


Post-pacifist Sansby

by C_Grayson



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Grillby the sass master, M/M, Other, Papyrus is a person not a gag, Super innocent, ace sans, if you haven't finished undertale yet go do that first, it'll give you cavities, oh also this is spoiler-tastic, this is really very very fluffy, toriel and sans are in a qpr of sorts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-23
Updated: 2016-03-03
Packaged: 2018-05-22 20:40:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 25,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6093394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/C_Grayson/pseuds/C_Grayson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sansby! With a focus on mutual respect, genuine concern for one another, independence, sentimentality, communication, etc. I promise to steer clear of Big Romantic Gestures and Relationship Conflict for plot's sake. Just watch these nerds be happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. if what i think is happening is happening it better not be.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guy, looking for an innocent, sweet fic about a healthy relationship? I know, they're tough to find. But you've come to the right place! I've written this because I'm sick of seeing stories, in fanfic and original works, where weird, stalker-y, possessive relationship are portrayed as "true love." This is going to be me writing the sort of relationships I want to see more of. Mutual respect, genuine concern for one another, independence, sentimentality, communication, etc. I promise to steer clear of last minute runs to the airport, surprise make out sessions, and misunderstandings that could be solved by 63 seconds of honest communication.
> 
> Huge thanks to renwhit, they beta read this plus they spent a couple hours with me shooting headcanons back and forth in the first place. I fleshed them out a bit and...here we are. Go check out their "Hellfire" for a dramatic as h*ck Grillby backstory (#helveticaprotectionsquad) and "The Cafeteria Food at Ebott University (And Other Unfixable Atrocities)" if you're in need of more fluffy sansby.

Grillby had been extraordinarily proud watching the neon lights go up for his new bar on the surface. It still bore his name, but now it was a little bigger, cleaner, and all around newer. The jukebox still didn't work, though.

His regulars from the Underground still showed up often. Sans wasn't around as much as before and always seemed tired. He did seem happier, though. Whenever Grillby asked why he was so busy Sans would avoid answering, or give a stupid answer like "Frisk's a handful." Grillby knew Sans was doing better, but he also missed having someone to talk to all the time. The other monsters were great, but none of them were quite as entertaining as Sans.

Business was slow today. Grillby organized, then re-organized, then re-organized all of the drinks under the counter. Save for a couple monsters in the corner, the bar was dead. Tuesday mornings were a drag.

He stood behind the counter, leafing through some magazines Sans had left him. One of the first things Sans had done upon getting settled was buying a subscription to National Geographic. When he was done reading them he left them for Grillby, who would flip through the pictures then return them. He wasn't big on the articles, and there wasn't really a reason to read them anyway. Sans could (and did, no matter how many times Grillby insisted that it really wasn't necessary) recite them by heart, especially the science ones.

Grillby jumped when the phone rang. Papyrus was the only person who ever called, and Grillby couldn't imagine Sans was missing on a Tuesday morning. He picked up the phone. On the other end was Toriel, former Queen of the Underground. He had never spoken to her, and she had never even visited his new bar on the surface. 

He was even more confused when she invited him over for a dinner party.

"Uh...of course, my Queen," he sighed into the phone. Grillby thought it would be rude not to accept. "It would be my pleasure."

Toriel gave him her address, where she lived with the human named Frisk, and a time. She wished him a good day then hung up. He put the phone back and shook his head. Weird.

Not long after, Sans received a similar phone call. He was in the middle of making chocolate chip muffins. Or trying to at least. Recipes weren't too hard and he wasn't so incompetent it was a complete disaster, but he had already spent twice as much time on prep as the recipe suggested. He hadn't baked in forever. It was nice.

"hey tori," he said, the phone stuck between his shoulder and his ear as he set up the pan. "what's up?"

"I am having people over on Friday for a dinner party. Are you free?" asked Toriel, getting straight to the point. 

"eh, dinner party's not really my kind of thing, y'know? maybe another time-"

"At the very least you could come over and keep Frisk company," she pressed. "Then they will not have to spend all night hiding in their room."

"tori, standing around and listening to people talk about their jobs and marriages doesn't really seem like a fun evening. why don't instead i kidnap frisk and we can go out for icecream or somethin'."

"Come on, Sans," said Toriel. "Just one night, please? No one else is free and I do not want to cancel the plans. I am having a new friend over but it will be awkward if they are there alone. I think you will really enjoy meeting them."

"hey, how do you know i don't have plans on a friday night?" he asked, pouring batter into the pan. He 'accidentally' spilled some. Oops. Who was gonna have to eat that off the counter.

"How long did you sit outside the ruins telling knock knock jokes to a door before I came along?"

"ouch, tori, i'm going to have to get some ice for that burn. okay, fine. new friend. i'll come over, on the condition that it all has to be over by 9 so i can get home and read to papyrus. deal?"

"Sounds fantastic, Sans," said Toriel, sporting a terrifyingly elated grin on her end of the line. "I will see you then. I am busy now but I will try to call later just to chat. Oh! And wear something nice."

"wear somethin' nice—toriel, all my outfits are variations of sweatpants and a jacket."

"Buy a tie."

"i hate you so much right now."

"That is a lie."

Sans sighed. "you rhymed." He paused. "wait, think i'll really enjoy meeting them? are you setting me up with someone? tori we've talked about this i—"

Toriel forced a loud laugh. "HA HA HA HA HA! Okay, I really must be going now. Look nice. Talk later." She hung up the phone, which had been on speaker. Frisk and Papyrus, both sitting around Toriel's table, high fived.

"THIS IS A FANTASTIC IDEA, TORIEL," beamed Papyrus. "I'LL MAKE SURE HE HAS SOMETHING NICE TO WEAR."

"You better," said Toriel. "And come up with a good excuse for why you cannot come, or else he will just talk to you the whole time."

*****

"hey papyrus, you free friday?" asked Sans. It took all of Papyrus's willpower to not giggle.

"UNDYNE AND I ARE GOING TO WATCH FAST CAR MOVIE FRANCHISE MOVIE IV," he said, facing away from Sans and pretending to be very, very busy with hanging up his coat. His battle body wasn't necessary now that he wasn't trying to get into the royal guard, so he wore a lot of fluffy, comfy clothes that made him feel good. Thanks to this, he knew exactly where to go shopping with Sans for something other than soccer shorts.

"uh, okay. tori invited me over to her place and says i have to dress nice."

"I WILL ASSIST YOU, BROTHER!" said Papyrus, pretending like he hadn't already planned their outing.

"yeah, she mentioned having a new friend—"

"I AM SURPRISED," said Papyrus. 

Sans gave Papyrus a probing look. "is there something you're not telling me."

"NO." Papyrus squirmed, his hands bunching the fabric of his sweater. "DO I SMELL MUFFINS?" he said, hoping to distract Sans. "THEY SMELL REALLY GREAT CAN I HAVE ONE LETS GO TO THE KITCHEN NOW." Papyrus pat himself on the back as he walked away to the kitchen. Sans had no idea what was going on. This was going off without a hitch.

*****

Sans knew exactly what was going on.

He needed to drink this off. He pushed open the door to Grillby's and sat up by the counter. The new bar wasn't quite as cozy as the one back in Snowdin, but it was still Sans's favourite place on the surface. Grillby was busy chatting to a couple humans while he dried glasses. They kept giggling at his jokes. Sans found himself annoyed. The jokes weren't even that good. He didn't even hear a single knock knock one. He frowned as the humans took turns holding Grillby's hands to see how well he could control his flame. Still giggling. Ugh.

Grillby looked over to him, but Sans waved his hands and shook his head. He had nowhere else to be tonight. He was could wait until the humans were gone and he had Grillby to himself.

It took another 15 minutes or so before Grillby got to him. Sans was predictable enough that Grillby didn't even need to take his order. Instead he just plopped down fries and a ketchup bottle in front of him.

"thanks, grillby."

Grillby hummed. "Did Papyrus not let you sleep again?" he asked, noting the way Sans rested his head in his hand."What was it this time? New puzzle? Cool human thing?"

"no, we've spent the afternoon clothes shopping. apparently my 'regard for personal appearance' is 'not great at all,'" said Sans, imitating his brother's voice. "long story short, I now have a semi-formal outfit."

Grillby chuckled and shook his head, eyeing the jacket Sans had been wearing every day since he had shown up in Snowdin. There were rips, stains, and roles everywhere. "He's not wrong..."

"hey!" said Sans, pointing an accusatory finger at Grillby. "i dress for comfort!"

"I dress to impress." Grillby straightened his bowtie playfully and rested his arm on the counter, wiggling his eyebrows. Sans grimaced.

"oh yeah, he made me get a bowtie too. looks weird. i haven't worn a button down and tie in years," he frowned as he twisted the cap off of the ketchup bottle. "enough about me. what's new with you."

Grillby hummed, then shrugged. "I got a strange phone call the other day."

Sans looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "strange?"

"Oh, don't worry, nothing bad," said Grillby. There had been a few instances of monsters receiving threats from particularly fearful humans. So far, there hadn't been any serious incidents, but tensions were still high.

"oh, that's good," said Sans. He tipped the ketchup bottle up and took a swig. Grillby shivered. Ketchup wasn't bad, but he had no idea how Sans managed...that.

The rest of the night Grillby was busy with other customers. Sans ate slowly, telling jokes with a few of the other regulars and even having a conversation with a couple humans. Grillby's was almost a tourist attraction among them. Come in and see the walking fire.

"How do his clothes not light up?" asked one of the humans, a young woman with pink streaks in her hair and mint gum in her mouth even though she was drinking a beer.

"magic!" said Sans with a wink. She chuckled. Sans didn't notice the glare Grillby shot her. It had been flattering the first 476 times but by now the humans should know not to ask stupid questions.

"No, really," she said.

"i'm serious. it's magic."

She chuckled again and shook her head. Her partner frowned at Grillby.

"It's not physically possible," he said defiantly. "He is fire, but nothing is burning. He just...exists."

"magic."

"Gotta see it to believe it," said the woman, watching Grillby with awe. Sans could appreciate that look. Even among monsters elementals were extraordinary, especially ones as intelligent, emotional, and old as Grillby.

Suddenly Sans looked at the clock on the wall and swore.

"oh crap, i'm late for papyrus. grillby!" he shouted across the bar. Grillby looked up from where he had been serving two dogs. Sans gave a mock salute as he backed out the door. Grillby nodded his head goodbye. He spent that night wondering what Sans would like in a bowtie and settled on the adjective "ridiculous."

*****

Friday could not come fast enough for Toriel, Frisk, and Papyrus. They had made elaborate plans. Toriel cooked a simple meal—snail pie, soup and bread. Papyrus made plans to stay overnight at Undyne and Alphys's place so that Sans wouldn't have an excuse to go home early. Frisk made a playlist entitled "Date Music." The stage was set. The audience was ready. All that was left were their unsuspecting victims.

At 6pm sharp Grillby knocked on the door. They had expected this. Grillby was punctual. Toriel offered him some tea and the two exchanged pleasantries around the kitchen table as Frisk texted Papyrus updates.

[6:04] Frisk99: They're talking about me

[6:05] CoolDude95: You are fantastic and deserves numerous discussions!!!

[6:11] Frisk99: Grillby is tell her about moving some of the stuff from the old bar to the surface

[6:11] CoolDude95: Ugh i remember that, sans and I had to carry that broken jukebox up

[6:14] Frisk99: still no sans

[6:16] CoolDude95: That's weird, he should be there by now

*****

Sans was busy. He wasn't an idiot. Papyrus and Toriel were setting him up on a date. He wouldn't be surprised if Frisk was the mastermind behind the entire plot. They had a history.

Unfortunately for Sans, there was no one in the world who he trusted more than Papyrus, Toriel and Frisk. If they had gone to this much effort to surprise him he might as well put some effort in as well. He tried to convince himself not to call Toriel and tell her his Vespa had broken down. This bowtie was suffocating. He could do this. He was doing so much better since the resets had stopped. Maybe he could even actually date this person.

Sans stood awkwardly in Asgore's flower shop, pretending like he knew something about the flowers he was picking at random. He could feel Asgore judging him but he wasn't going to let him have the satisfaction of him asking for help. They weren't on bad terms, per say, but Toriel was definitely...a factor in their relationship. Sans was perfectly capable of picking his own flowers. He could do this. The florescent lights buzzed above him as he grabbed haphazardly from the wall of flowers.

Asgore watching him silently from behind the counter for a few moments before getting up. He shuffled around the counter, then strolled over to tower over Sans. He didn't say anything. Sans looked up at him and cleared his throat before pretending to tip a hat in greetings. Asgore nodded and kept watching Sans, who awkwardly gestured at the flowers. Asgore nodded again. They stood in silence for a few moments, Asgore's expression cruelly gleeful.

"Whacha got there?" Asgore asked in his booming voice. Sans only flinched a little.

"well, ah, y'see, i've got some flowers."

"To be specific, you have red tulips and white carnations."

"hmm. yes. i suppose i do, pal."

"Do you know what those flowers mean?"

"do i look like i know what they mean, asgore?" snapped Sans, gesturing wildly with the hand that wasn't holding the flowers.

"No."

Sans groaned and slammed a palm against his face, pulling a little at his eye sockets.

"It would be a little confusing to receive this bouquet. The white carnations mean condolences. The red tulips are a way of proclaiming your love."

"oh."

"Yes."

"if you're worried, i didn't know that and am not planning on murdering you then swooping in to steal tori."

Asgore crossed his arms.

"i know you two aren't on speaking terms right now—"

"Sans."

"but you've gotta believe me, 100% platonic feelings only for tori," said Sans, spiralling out of control.

"I get it."

"and you're great, I would never kill you, i should also mention now that tori has explicitly stated that she's not interested and never will be, ever, and that you really need to let it go."

"Would you like some help, Sans," Asgore shouted.

Sans cleared his throat and tried to calm down. He talked a lot when he was flustered. "i'm already 5 minutes late to a blind date toriel's set me up on," said Sans, his voice deliberately slow and controlled. "what do you think." 

Asgore's face split into a smile. For a guy who was usually a sweet pushover, he could be terrifying when he wanted to be, and now was one of those times. He leaned over Sans, his eyes bulging out of his head. "You have to say it!" said Asgore, fidgeting with excitement.

Sans groaned and threw his hands up in the air. "can you help me!"

Asgore cackled. Three minutes latter Sans was leaving with an extremely tasteful bouquet for a blind date. Asgore had to admit it was sweet of him to think of something like that. He wondered who Toriel had set Sans up with. Maybe he should give her a call...or not. Sans was probably right. He should just let it go.

*****

Grillby was freaking out. Would it be rude to ask Toriel who else she had invited over? He'd been at her apartment for half an hour now but no one else had showed up. Frisk sat on the floor by the sink texting their friends as he and Toriel talked. He tried to fill the space, but he was a monster of few words and it was starting to feel a bit like an interrogation.

"So how long have you and Sans known each other?" asked Toriel.

"Since he's been in Snowdin...He's been a regular ever since."

"Do you guys ever spend time together outside of your bar?"

"A couple of times I've had to walk him home, hah...Other than that, we've never gotten together before. It might be nice to do something sometime though, especially now that he doesn't come in as regularly anymore..."

Frisk was typing furiously and trying to hide a smile. Grillby could feel himself blushing. "He's my best customer...You two know each other well, yes?"

"Oh yes," said Toriel, beaming. "He is a...soulmate. I think we have a lot in common. It is nice to have someone to talk to who really 'gets' you, you know? I..." Toriel chuckled awkwardly. "I love him. Platonically, of course. But I do love him. And if anyone ever hurt him-" Toriel paused and deliberately made intense eye contact "-I would end them."

Grillby's flame wavered.

"You're giving me a cavity, mom," signed Frisk. Toriel blushed.

There was a click in the front door lock.

*****

Sans cursed, realizing his mistake too late. This was weird. He should have just knocked. Welp, too late now. He pushed open the door with one hand, flowers in his other. Frisk ran over and gave him a hug.

"hey kid, miss me?"

"You're late," they signed. "By like, half an hour."

Sans wiggled the flowers under their nose. "I was shopping."

Frisk grinned and wiggled their eyebrows, then looked at his tie and button down and gasped. Toriel stepped out of the kitchen, followed by...Grillby. Wait... wait. 

Wait.

They were trying to set him up with Grillby. Sans's eyes shot wide and tried not to nervous laugh. This could not end well.

"toriel i brought you flowers for you!" he said, uncharacteristically loudly, blushing an intense shade of blue. He tried to hide it by holding the flowers up. "hello!"

"Oh Sans, how thoughtful!" said Toriel, sweeping the flowers out of his hands and walking back to the kitchen to find a proper place to put them. "They look so wonderful! Oh, and they smell good too."

"yeah, asgore knows his stuff!" said Sans, his voice still a little too loud to be considered normal. Would it be weird if he ignored Grillby? That would be weird. He needed to say something he needed to say something-

"Toriel didn't mention you were coming." said Grillby in his deep voice. It was hollow and airy yet full warm at the same time, like a fire snapping and sighing. Was Grillby's voice always this distracting? Or was Sans just freaking out? Probably the latter.

"toriel doesn't mention a lot of things," said Sans, his voice cracking. "nice to see you out in the world."

Awkward silence. Frisk rocked back and forth on their heels, waiting for one of them to say something.

"sometimes i forget you have legs."

Frisk groaned internally.

Grillby nodded slowly. The silence stretched on for a few moments before Frisk swooped in to save the day. They had anticipated that it would be awkward at first.

"Do you guys want to listen to music?" they signed.

"Alright."

"course kid i love music it's great!"

Grillby gave Sans a look out of the corner of his eye. Something was up. This was not the monster he knew. Sans was never this...uncomfortable.

Frisk was beaming. They proudly walked over to the speakers, plugged in their phone and turned on the playlist they had specially made for the event as Sans and Grillby awkwardly attempted a conversation. Frisk's finger hovered over the play button, then pressed it confidently.

Daft Punk's Get Lucky blasted from the speakers loud enough for both of them to jump. Sans's bony hands clacked against his skull and he groaned as though physically injured. Frisk played this song every time Undyne and Alphys came over. He was never going to get through the night.

"Turn it down!" shouted Toriel from the kitchen. "Find something we can talk over!" Frisk shrugged, still smiling. They turned the music down, then moved on to the next song. The dissonance of smooth jazz rolled over their horrified listeners. Unfortunately for Grillby and Sans, Toriel seemed to approve of the tune.

Grillby hopped no one was noticing how tightly his sweater was bunched in his hands. He'd never seen Sans outside of work, especially during such happy circumstances. There were no distractions. No ticking clock or hungry dogs or broken glasses. No worried Papyrus or drunk Sans or "d'yaknow, pal, it'll all j'st...reset." There was no excuse to do anything except have a conversation with Sans. Who was dressed in a button down, jeans, and a blue bowtie, which did indeed look ridiculous. There were small little Xs all over his shirt. They looked like stars. Grillby was terrified. Slowly, painfully, the two of them tried to kick off a conversation.

Sans was even more terrified. A little more perceptive than Grillby, he knew what was going on. He starred down Frisk as they set up their little playlist. Smooth jazz. He was going to kill them as soon as Grillby wasn't looking. As it was, he forced a smile (not that he could frown if he wanted to) and tried to keep the conversation friendly, light, and not focused on questions such as, hey, are we the only two people they invited over? or huh, did Frisk just put on smooth jazz? or why did you buy flowers for Toriel? The current topic, 'the first human bachelor party came to Grillby's last night and it was much less exciting than he had anticipated' was perfect.

"they left at 9:30?"

"Yeah! Apparently everyone had work the next day. They just came in, everyone had a beer or two then they all called cabs and left."

"at 9:30?"

"I know! Those movies we've been watching for years are so unrealistic."

"What movies?" signed Frisk.

"one's like the one that was so bad you left the room to go do homework," said Sans. Frisk's nose scrunched up. "like drunk people: haha! III"

"That one was stupid," they signed.

Grillby chuckled. "Remember the part where they drive the car off the-"

"cliff, and then it lands in the tree-"

"And the guy goes to some squirrel that's watching him-"

"woah! that was nuts man!" said Sans, imitating the voice of the main character.

Grillby laughed. "Maybe that movie wasn't so bad..."

Frisk groaned. "You're forgetting the part where he dresses up like a priest to try and get out of his own wedding," they signed.

Grillby grimaced. "Okay, it was pretty bad."

"Sans!!" Toriel shouted from the kitchen.

"i will return," Sans said with a mock bow, walking over to help. "yes ma'am?"

"I dropped a spoon down the sink," said Toriel, taking snail pie out of the oven. "Can you get it out?"

"sure!" said Sans, his voice intentionally chipper. He checked to make sure that Grillby couldn't see into the kitchen then he frantically signed "is this a date? did you set me up on a date?"

Toriel put the pie down and slipped off her oven mitts. "Maybe..." she signed.

"tori!" he waved in a panic. His hands flapped, trying to find the right signs. "with grillby!?" he finally managed.

"Calm down Sans, you are doing great. Papyrus kept talking about how well the two of you got along and I thought it was worth a shot. You talk about him all the time, you know," she signed.

"can you please make frisk turn off the smooth jazz," he signed back.

Toriel almost snorted. Sans's eyes bulged and he banged around the dishes in the sink. "wow, sure is in there!" he shouted.

"I will make them turn it off," she signed.

"is there actually a spoon in here?" he signed back. Toriel shook her head.

"You can do it!" signed Toriel with a smile.

"i hate you," signed Sans. "Wow! Got it!" he shouted, banging dished together for effect. Toriel gave him a wink and thumbs up as he left the room. He scowled at her, then returned to his usual smile as soon as he was in Grillby's sight.

"Thanks Sans!" she said as he left. "By the way, I love your outfit! Send my congratulations to Papyrus."

*****

Dinner was delicious, but that was no surprise. Toriel was the best cook Sans had ever met, except for maybe Grillby. Grillby enjoyed it was well. Most of the time he just snacked at the bar. Regular meals weren't common for him. Frisk pushed snail pie around their plate, hoping no one would notice.

The conversation was going surprisingly smoothly. Every once in awhile there were awkward patches, but Toriel was good at covering them up with talk of how well Frisk was doing at school. Turns out, very well. Then again, Frisk wouldn't tell anyone how old they were. They had been put in 6th grade, but no one was sure if that's where they actually belonged and Frisk would neither confirm nor deny anything. Whenever anyone asked they would just smile and shrug.

"Are you going to move Frisk up a grade?" asked Grillby, his plate picked clean.

"We're thinking about it..." mused Toriel. "Frisk is making friends though. I don't want to split them all up..."

"That's a good point," said Grillby. There were a few moments of silence. Sans and Frisk were signing jokes back and forth at each other as Grillby and Toriel talked. For the first time, it wasn't awkward. Grillby leaned back in his seat and watched as they exchange worse and worse puns silently. Toriel snorted every once in awhile. Eventually Toriel got up.

"Bed time soon, Frisk," said Toriel. "Can you all help me clean up?"

Many hands made light work. Before long, the table was cleared. Despite Grillby's protests that he was perfectly capable of washing dishes, Sans did them alone as Toriel got Frisk to bed.

"anyway, i know where they go," said Sans.

"Ugh. Where's a dish towel. I'll dry them, at the very least."

"in the drawer beside the fridge."

"This one?" asked Grillby, opening up one of the many drawers to reveal a stash of notes. Grillby picked one out at random and started reading it. Sans looked over and blushed.

"hey, uh, the one beside that one-"

"Do you always send them notes?" he asked. The drawer was fill of little lunch notes addressed to both Frisk and Toriel.

"uh, yeah," said Sans, blushing and looking away. "i know, uh, a shortcut here. so every night i come by, make sure the lights and stove are off, the door's locked and the fireplace is off. and i leave a note and sometimes a treat in their lunches."

Grillby cooed softly, like only living fire could.

"hey!"

"That's adorable!"

"stop it!" said Sans, scrubbing at this particular dish more than he had to.

"How can you tell which ones are for who?"

Sans debated not telling him, but figured it couldn't go too terribly. "frisk's are in green, tori's are in white."

"Okay then this one is to Frisk: 'you can do it!' What was that for?"

"uh, probably a test or something. sometimes i write that when i'm not sure what else to write."

"This is unbelievably adorable," said Grillby matter-of-factly. Sans blushed. "Here's one to Tori: 'mr. perfect was not as perfect as we thought. spent some time in jail for drunk driving.' What?"

"oh, uh, tori recently started online dating," said Sans, moving the plate onto the dish rack. "she gets an insane amount of message from a bunch of creeps but she feels like she has to reply to all of those losers even when all they send her is 'hey gurl,' so i go through and weed out anything that's totally ridiculous."

"And this guy?"

"seemed great and she was texting him a lot, but i did a google search and that came up."

"Oh. Okay, this is to Frisk: 'we need to hang out. papyrus is bonely without you.'"

"ha! that's a good one."

"Another to Frisk: 'look both ways before you cross the road.'"

"i take my role as duncle seriously."

"To Tori: 'grillby's?'"

Sans blushed. "what can i say, you know how to cook."

"She's never come before," said Grillby.

"i'm working on it. she's a bit of a homebody."

Grillby supposed that was fair. She had lived completely isolated from everyone for centuries, it made sense that it would take time to get used it bigger crowds. Sans didn't tell him the real reason was that she had teased him about how much he talked about Grillby's to the point where Sans thought she would try to pull something if he took her there. Look at how well that turned out.

"To Frisk: 'meteor shower tonight. get packed for sleepover. i'll pick you up.' Aww!"

"stop it!"

Grillby kept reading until Sans had finished all the dishes. They left them to dry and went out to sit down in the living room. They could still hear Toriel putting Frisk to bed. It was getting late, but neither of them wanted to be the first to leave. Eventually she came down to let them know she was going to bed, but they could stay as late as they wanted so long as they didn't bother Frisk.

There was only room for one couch in the apartment, so they shared, both of them taking one end. Sans curled up and wrapped his arms around his legs and Grillby sat at the other end, his legs crossed but facing Sans. They talked for what felt like forever.

*****

[10:49] Frisk99: have to sleep now

[10:50] Frisk99: but they're still talking

[10:50] CoolDude95: about what?

[10:50] Frisk99: some carnival that's gonna be in town

[10:51] CoolDude95: a carnival!!! we should go!!!

[10:52] Frisk99: love you papyrus. good night!

[10:52] CoolDude95: Goodnight tiny human. :)

*****

Toriel stood proudly just out of view of the boys. It was going so well. She grinned malevolently. Perhaps she could meddle just a little bit more. With a deep breath, some focus, and a careful use of magic, the electric fireplace burst to life with a magical flame. 

*****

Sans and Grillby jumped when the fireplace turned on.

"Does it...?"

"who knows. magic."

"Oh," said Grillby. "It's pretty bright..."

"you're right," said Sans. "might as well turn off the other lights as well." Grillby shifted to get up but Sans stopped him with a hand on his arm. "i got it." With a snap of his fingers, the lights in the living room and kitchen went out. All that was left was the light from the two flames in the room and a little coming in from the street through the cracked blinds.

"That's useful."

"enables my laziness," said Sans, his hand still on Grillby's arm. He scrunched his face up, mustering his bravery. His soul was shaking with nerves. He hadn't done this since...well, he couldn't remember. "okay grillby i'm gonna be honest here."

Grillby raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything and didn't try to shrug Sans's hand away. For a few moments Sans considered backing out. He looked up at Grillby, who was literally lighting up the room.

"i...like you. a lot. and tonight was nice." Sans took a deep breath. "the carnival. do you want to, uh, go with me. to the carnival. in a...romantical...way. maybe. no pressure."

Grillby's flame flickered and snapped. He pushed his glasses up his nose and tried to think of an appropriate response. If he was being honest, Sans's proposal didn't sound...bad. Actually, it sounded kind of nice. He looked over at Sans, who was bathed in a warm glow from both himself and the fire. He felt a little tingly all over. Was this the dreaded butterflies he had heard about? Oh god they felt awful. He was going to throw up.

"That...would be nice," said Grillby, somewhat formally.

Both of them looked at each other, neither really sure what to do next. Sans spoke first.

"i don't know what to do next."

"I don't really want to go home yet," said Grillby.

"neither."

They stared at each other for another few moments. Grillby shifted and Sans lifted his hand away, suddenly aware he had been holding onto Grillby for far longer than necessary. His hand felt warm now.

"No, uh..." started Grillby. He wasn't sure how to finish the sentence so he just grabbed Sans's hand instead. Sans grinned. Grillby made an exaggerated throat clearing noise as he lowered their hands into a comfier position. "So, uh, did you hear that Greater Dog finally caught his tail?"

"no!"

"I know!"

"he's been trying for years!"

"He swears he did it, but there are no pictures."

Sans grimaced and hissed. "i don't buy it."

"Has Greater Dog every lied before?" dared Grillby.

Their conversation continued as Toriel listened from the hallway, grinning like a mad man. She slipped quietly into Frisk's room to give Sans and Grillby some privacy as they gossiped about Grillby's other regulars.

Toriel carefully nudged them awake. Frisk looked up at her and squinted. "Guess who's going on a second date?" she whispered. Frisk grinned and gave a thumbs up, before yawning and pulling the covers over their head.

Toriel kissed their head, then left the room and silently walked into her own. She gave herself a pat on the back. She had pulled it off rather excellently.

In the living room, Sans and Grillby sat closer and closer as the night went on. Long before they ran out of conversation topics Sans ran out of energy. They watched the fire together for awhile, but soon enough Sans was slumped on Grillby's shoulder, lulled into a mercifully peaceful slumber by the warmth and flicker of flames. Their hands were still intertwined.

Grillby grimaced when he finally realised Sans was asleep. He couldn't just leave him here alone, but he didn't want to wake him up either. He slipped his hand out of Sans's and tried to stand up, but Sans groaned when he shifted. Oh well. Nothing could be done. He guessed he would just have to sleep here.

Grillby sized up the couch. It was just big enough to fit him. Awkwardly, he picked up Sans and twisted. He lay back and was pleased to find his feet weren't dangling off the end. He lay Sans down beside him and closed his eyes. Moments later they shot open as he caught Sans from rolling off the couch. Grillby frowned. He would hold him then.

The next morning, Toriel found them cuddled together, Sans's head on Grillby's chest as they laid across the couch, their legs tangled up and Grillby holding Sans tightly to keep him from falling off. She cooed softly, thrilled that it had worked out. Frisk took an excessive amount of pictures, which ended up in the inbox of everyone they knew. 

Sans didn't usually leave notes on weekends, but on Monday evening when Toriel opened up the drawer to add what he had left in her lunch, she found one on the top of the pile. It simple read "thank you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments = the way to my heart


	2. WOULD YOU CARE FOR SOME CANDY OF COTTON?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! You're reading the second chapter! I must have done something right. Make room for Alphyne. Also lemme be clear, Papyrus and Frisk are going together as ~friends~.
> 
> They go to a carnival. What can I say. It's cliched as h*ck.
> 
> EDIT:
> 
> demydems.tumblr.com drew fanart for this chapter go shower them in love: http://demydems.tumblr.com/post/139939451106/httpveryhappybirbtumblrcomso-this-is-a-fan

Sans grappled up onto the bar stool. He sat down and twiddled his thumbs nervously. Grillby was serving other customers, but he acknowledged Sans with a nod. Sans nodded back and awkwardly waved. Grillby was already looking away so he tried to play it off by scratching the back of his skull.

Usually Grillby would come over as soon as soon as he could, but this night he waited until the counter was quiet. Sans watched as Grillby fiddled with his bowtie and pretended to clean up a mess on the counter that wasn't actually there. He smiled a little as Grillby faced away from him and muttered something to himself under his breath before nodding aggressively at no one.

Grillby spun on his heels and walked over to Sans. He stood in front of him and didn't make a sound, other than the hiss of his flames, which were noticeably hotter than usual.

"so about the other night," said Sans, tugging at the collar of his shirt. "it, uh...happened."

"Yes," said Grillby curtly, not moving a muscle and avoiding eye contact.

"and i...asked you out."

"Yes." Grillby's hand flashed up to behind his neck.

"to the carnival. but i didn't give you a date or time," said Sans.

Grillby looked at Sans suddenly, his eyebrows raised. "What?"

"what?"

"You still want to go out?"

"uh...do you?" said Sans, with a nervous chuckle and an even more nervous smile. He should never have come back to Grillby's he should have just avoided Grillby forever and never spoken to him again dear god what had he gotten himself into.

"I asked first!" 

"what are we, five?"

"I still asked first!" said Grillby indignantly, flapping his hands in the air. A couple monsters looked over from another table. Sans scowled at them.

"okay, yes, i do still want to go out," stage whispered Sans, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "you?"

"Yes!" shouted Grillby.

"good!"

Both of them looked at each other properly for the first time. The silence stretched on.

"why was i here again? i know i had a reason but i completely forgot, this is extremely stressful," asked Sans.

"Date. Time. Details," said Grillby, leaning in and lowering his voice, suddenly aware that there were others listening in on their private conversation. 

"right. okay. this sunday, meet at the carnival entrance at one. triple date with alphys and undyne, papyrus and frisk. we could use people to fill in the conversation when it gets awkward." Grillby bobbed his head at that. It wasn't a bad idea.

"Okay that works. Anything else."

"my treat, i pay," said Sans. Grillby opened his mouth to argue but Sans raised his hand and shushed him. "i'm the one who invited you. no discussion, i pay."

Grillby closed his mouth. "Fine. But if it works out we split the bill from now on."

"you think it could work out?" said Sans without thinking, his eyes bulging in surprise. He recovered awkwardly and covered his mouth with a bony hand. "anyway. uh, toriel says to tell you that you look nice but also...wait. she told me not to say it was her idea. crap." Sans groaned and buried his head in his hands.

Grillby chuckled. His hand was halfway out to pat Sans on the shoulder before he realized it might be weird and pulled away, his fingers twitching. He brushed some lint off his pants, thinking of what to say.

"So, uh...are you staying to eat, or...?"

"no, i think i'm going to avoid you until at least sunday, possibly forever," said Sans, lifting his head up. "no offense. this is just really, really awkward."

"Thank you," said Grillby, relieved. "So uh...see you then, I guess."

"see you then," said Sans with a smile, sliding down from the stool. "heh. and uh, you do look nice. that ones from me, not tori." Sans winked and shot two handguns, while blushing almost as much as Grillby was. He fell backwards. There was a tingle of electricity, the smell of ozone, and a satisfying tearing sound, but no thump of Sans hitting the floor. Grillby stood on his tiptoes and leaned over the edge of the counter. He had never seen Sans use his magic so openly before. So that's how his "shortcuts" worked.

Sans landed on his bed. He groaned and rolled over, burying his face in his pillow. That was the most awkward, embarrassing conversation of his life. If the date didn't work out her would never be able to go there again. The risks far outweighed any possible rewards.

He found himself laughing. Him. On a date. With Grillby. It was surreal and exciting and new. Sans almost never felt this way about anyone. Was this what it was like for other monsters? God, this must be how Alphys felt all the time. No wonder she was a nervous wreck, crushes were hell. Sunday could not come soon enough, but at the same time he wished it never would.

*****

Sans unlocked Toriel's apartment and walked in.

"Look at you!" she said, buzzing back and forth, collecting seemingly unrelated items and putting them in a backpack. Papyrus followed behind Sans. She gestured at his outfit. Brown pants, powder blue t-shirt and a newer, fluffier navy hoodie. "Oh my goodness I am so excited for you!"

"thanks, tori. is frisk—"

"MY RESPONSIBILITY," said Papyrus, putting a hand on Sans's chest. "FRISK! I HAVE ARRIVED TO RETRIEVE YOU!"

"They are coming," said Toriel. "Here, Frisk's backpack. It has everything you might need." Papyrus took it and opened it up to find a first aid kit, a bag of homemade cookies and a child leash at the top of the stuffed bag.

"UH...THANKS, TORIEL," he said. "THIS IS REALLY THOUGHTFUL OF YOU." Toriel smiled proudly. Sans looked inside and raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

Frisk ran out of their room, already wearing their shoes. "Ready!" they signed.

"HELLO, HUMAN!" said Papyrus. "YOU ARE LOOKING PARTICULARLY LOVELY TODAY!" Frisk gave a twirl to show off their pleated polka-dot skirt. "IF I MAY?" Papyrus held out a hand and Frisk took it, giggling. "WE'RE GOING TO HAVE FUN TODAY, AREN'T WE?"

Toriel rattled off instructions as they walked out the door. "They can have some cotton candy, but not too much. Do not let them on any rides that will scare them. Do not let them go anywhere alone. Absolutely do not lose them, or let them get hurt or-"

"tori," interrupted Sans, the last to leave. "it'll be fine, i promise. i always keep an eye out for the kid."

Frisk shot him an accusatory glare, but no one noticed.

Toriel sighed. "Alright. I will try not to worry. Text me every once in awhile?"

"sure, but really tori, we've got it," he said. 

Toriel sighed and gave a lopsided smile. "Well, hopefully you and Grillby find a real spark today."

"yeah, y'know, i've never gone out with a guy this hot before."

"Be careful not to get burned."

"ah tori, no one could melt this heart even if they wanted to," he said, patting his chest.

"Ooh, drama! Let me know if it gets heated."

"i hope it's not so hot i get a femur, sun's really blazing today."

"SANS!" Papyrus shouted, holding the elevator open. He was seriously debating closing it.

"i should go," Sans said regrettably. "too bad. we were really on fire there."

Toriel snorted. "Go. Good luck!"

"thanks, tori," said Sans genuinely. He felt less nervous knowing she had his back.

*****

Grillby fidgeted in front of the gates to the amusement park. The crowd was mostly humans. In fact, he'd never been around so many before. Well. Not in a very long time, at least.

The carnival was being held in the parking lot of a mall. He leaned against temporary chain link fencing and people watched, keeping an eye out for Sans or anyone else Sans had invited. He spotted a few monsters in the crowd, but the vast majority were humans.

One human child stopped as she walked past him. She looked up at him in wonder. "Are you a monster?" she asked. Grillby nodded. "You don't look like other monsters," she said. Grillby shrugged.

"I'm a little different," he said.

"Oh, cool. My name is Emily."

"That's a very beautiful name. How old are you Emily?"

"I'm 7!" she said proudly, holding up the correct number of fingers. "How old are you?"

"I am 1059 years old," said Grillby.

"Woah," said Emily. "That's even older than my Grandpa."

Grillby laughed his warm, airy laugh.

"Are you on fire?" asked the kid.

"I am fire," said Grillby.

"Did you know that human bodies are 70% water," she said.

"I did not know that," said Grillby. Emily frowned.

"I wonder what the other 30% is. Maybe that's fire?"

"Maybe," said Grillby, smiling.

"Emily!" called a voice from the crowd. "There you are," said an adult human, rushing up to take her hand. They shot a wary look at Grillby. "Uh...hi."

"Hello," said Grillby. He kneeled down at Emily's level. "It was nice to meet you, Emily. Uh, here," he said, reaching into his breast pocket to pull out a lollipop. He had brought two. He supposed Papyrus wouldn't get one now. Emily took it with stars in her eyes.

"Thank you Fire!" she said, holding it up for her parent to see. 

"Um, thanks, Fire," said her parent with a curious smile. "Come on Emily, it's too hot to leave your brother waiting in the car."

Grillby stood back up as they walked away, Emily looking back every so often to smile at him as she opened up her lollipop and sucked on it happily. Grillby sighed contentedly. Human children were not so different from monster children.

He looked at his watch nervously. One o' two. When should he start worrying Sans wasn't coming? Grillby was suddenly struck by the absurdity of the situation. He was waiting. To go on a date. With Sans. The monster who tormented his other customers with constantly changing, constantly ridiculous nicknames. The monster who left whoopie cushions on the seats. The monster who sat alone in the corner for hours without ordering anything. The monster who was just starting to put a dent in the tab he had racked up over the past...god, how long had it been?

Grillby put a hand over his face, suddenly blushing a deep red. Why was he doing this? Sure, Sans was more than a good customer by now. He had a charming personality and knew exactly how to make Grillby laugh. He understood the days when Grillby preferred not to talk. And sure, he occasionally stayed after closing hours, hoped up on the counter (Grillby would never allow such behavior when other customers were there) and reminded Grillby of the good things in life. But still! This was surreal. This was insane! How had he let this happen?

"grillby!" called a familiar voice from the crowd. Grillby looked up to see Sans walking towards him, hands in his pockets, with Papyrus and Frisk in tow. His familiar jacket had been replaced by a newer, similar navy one. The gold accents were nice. "uh, hey."

"Hello," said Grillby as Sans stopped in front of him, trying to control his flame.

"shall we?" said Sans awkwardly, holding out a hand. Grillby nodded and took it.

*****

The carnival was hectic. People were shouting happily. Kids ran around as pop songs blasted from speakers. Temporary rides hummed and whizzed. There were a dozen different attractions, the largest of which was the Kamikaze. Along the back end of the parking lot was the Big Tent, a hundred meter long row of games and stalls and food trucks underneath a temporary shaded area and benches. A clown walked about, making balloon animals for the price of one ticket. Frisk and Papyrus looked around, eyes wide. Before long, they had run off with the tickets Sans had bought them, Frisk tugging Papyrus along behind them by his wrist.

"So when do Alphys and Undyne get here?" asked Grillby, having to lean down so Sans could hear him. They were still holding hands, but mostly because neither of them could find a polite way to let go.

"not sure, alphys is having a bad day so they're gonna be a little late," shouted Sans over the frenzy. "tea cups?"

Grillby looked where Sans was pointing. The tea cups...they spun around haphazardly and unpredictably, pushing their occupants this way and that. Grillby shrugged.

"Sure!" he shouted. If Grillby was being honest he had no idea what to do. He'd never been to a amusement park before. The only thing even a little like this was Christmas in Snowdin.

Sans set off with Grillby right beside him. They waited in line for awhile, both of them watching as people stumbled off the ride.

Finally it was their turn. Grillby tugged nervously on his sweater. "I'm not sure this is the best idea-"

"we're doing it!" said Sans, dragging Grillby behind him. He gave the attendant their ticks then walked up the steps and onto the ride. The tea cups all had two seats, so Sans and Grillby got one to themselves. Sans opened up the door and held it open like a proper gentleman. (Papyrus had drilled him on etiquette in the car.)

"Fancy," said Grillby as he slid in. Sans blushed and climbed in behind him. He reached for where he thought a seatbelt would be...and found none.

"wait," said Sans.

"There's a bar," said Grillby, realizing the same thing.

"better hold on then, i guess," said Sans. Grillby chuckled nervously. "are you okay?"

"Sure," said Grillby. This was nothing he couldn't handle. Grillby was a warrior. These tea cups would not best him. He nodded with determination. "I can do this."

Sans smiled at him.

The ride attendant came around to make sure that all of the bars were secured properly. Sans and Grillby both noticed their curious look. Older humans were not like the human children. They only looked when they thought you wouldn't see. "Enjoy your ride!" they said with a customer service smile.

"ready?" asked Sans, his expression suddenly gleeful. This was actually pretty exciting.

"I can do this!" said Grillby. Sans laughed maniacally.

The ride jolted and began to spin. Sans suddenly felt much less gleeful than before.

"o-okay..." he mumbled, his hands tightening on the bar as the ride spun faster and faster. He squeezed his eyes shut. Centrifugal force pushed him into Grillby but he didn't even care. Vaguely, he registered Grillby laughing as they were pushed forwards and back, this way and that. The ride seemed to go on forever.

Grillby, on the other hand, was having the time of his life. This was incredible! He felt like he was flying! The feeling of dropping and accelerating was addicting. He laughed, his flame whipping back and forth. Sans was pressed against him. Grillby looked down and noticed that his eyes were closed.

"Open your eyes!" he shouted, the wind snatching away his words. "This is amazing!" This earned him a panicked nod.

They were swung back and forth, jolted, stopped, turned around and pulled. Before Grillby knew it, the ride began to slow. Sans thanked whatever higher powers were listening, his eyes still skewed shut. Finally, finally, they were still. He could feel Grillby shaking with laughter.

"Again!" said Grillby, thrusting his hands up into the air. Take that, blasted tea cups! Grillby feared no machine! "That was amazing!"

"no..." said Sans, his forehead coming down to rest against the bar. Grillby put a hand on his back.

"Alright, Mr. Overconfident. Come on, let's go," he said good-naturedly.

The attendant came over to free them. "Come again!"

"no way," said Sans, sliding out of the cup, but they had already moved on to the next one.

Sans leaned against their tea cup as Grillby hopped out. Grillby took his arm as they wobbled down and off the ride. Grillby was still giggling.

"You have to hand it to humans," he said, looking at the ride in awe. "They know how to have fun!"

"can we go sit down?" asked Sans, already walking towards an unoccupied bench. Grillby followed behind him, a bounce in his step.

"This place is magical!" said Grillby, rubbing Sans's back as he sat with his head between his knees. "They say we're special. This is so much cooler than being able to char everything within a 15 meter radius."

"whatever you say," said Sans. Grillby finally looked down at him, concerned.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, his voice gentler, however his face was still split by a flaming grin.

"just gotta sit for awhile," said Sans. "that was, uh, intense."

Grillby nodded and kept patting Sans. Grillby looked around. The tea cups were one of the least intense rides. Gradually, the world stopped spinning and Sans was able to sit up. He noticed how close Grillby was to him but decided not to comment, instead just blushing a little. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked his texts.

[1:13] fishbreath: We're on our way

[1:14] fishbreath: Alphys isn't sure if she'll do the rides but she wants to come anyway

[1:14] fishbreath: We'll probably get there in about 15 minutes? See you punk

Sans checked his watch. 1:24pm.

"they'll be here soon," he said. Grillby had been reading over his shoulder anyway. Sans tucked his phone back into a zip pocket. "meet them at the gates?"

"Sure," said Grillby. He hoped up, still energized from the tea cups. He held out a hand and Sans took it. Grillby pulled him up. They walked to the front entrance in what was surprisingly comfortable silence. Grillby's hand felt strong and warm in Sans's. 

"so what do you want to try next?" asked Sans as they waited right behind the gates. Grillby dropped Sans's hand to shade his eyes as he looked around.

"The Kamikaze?" he said, pointing to what Sans could only describe as a spinning tower of bad times, probably designed by the same people who invented run clubs and difficult-to-open ketchup packets.

"uh," said Sans, rubbing at the ink stamped on the back of his right hand. "how about the ferris wheel?"

Grillby shrugged. "Or that."

"Hey punk!" shouted a familiar, loud, and aggressive voice. Undyne and Alphys walked through the front gates together, Alphys holding on to Undyne's arm as she nervously looked around.

Sans waved in greeting. 

"N-nice to see you," shouted Alphys. She was still difficult to hear over the roar of the crowd.

"you too, alphys," said Sans. "okay, formal introduction. grillby, this is undyne and alphys, undyne and alphys, grilby."

"Yeah we know who your date is," said Undyne, looking around the crowd. Alphys held out her hand and Grillby shook it. They exchanged two shy smiles. "Where's Papyrus?"

"no idea, frisk and him ran off."

"He better not have done the best rides without me!" shouted Undyne. Sans shrugged. "I'm gonna go find him. Meet you guys...?"

"At the Ferris wheel," said Grillby. Sans nodded gratefully in agreement.

"Great, race you there!" Undyne said, running off and leaving Alphys with Sans and Grillby.

The three of them set off through the crowd, the boys letting Alphys decide the pace.

"i heard you weren't doing so good?" asked Sans. He had a soft spot for Alphys. She was the only person he knew who appreciated how cool gravitational waves were.

"Y-yeah, nothing major, just a bad day, y'know? But..." she looked longingly at where Undyne had run off towards. "I have her, y'know? Makes it easier."

Sans nodded appreciatively. He had no idea where he would be without Papyrus. Nowhere good.

Grillby walked behind the two of them as Sans and Alphys caught up. At some point in the walk Sans held out a hand behind him so Grillby knew he hadn't forgotten about him. Grillby took it happily. He understood that Alphys needed attention, plus it gave him a chance to really look around instead of worrying about keeping a conversation afloat.

He watched the humans carefully, trying to understand their behavior. His attention was caught by one particular family. The child had scrapped her knees and palms on the rough pavement ground, and her father was busy washing her cuts with a water bottle as she sniffled. Her mother kneeled and held her shoulders. "It's alright pumpkin, you're okay." Grillby smiled. For years humans had been nothing but compassionless killing machines to him; it was nice to be proven wrong.

Regardless of Sans, the carnival in itself was an experience. In every direction was chaos. There were lights flashing and blinking everywhere he looked. Arcade games in the big tent dinged and beeped, as did the rides. Everything was loud and overwhelming. Kids screamed and machines whirred and shuddered. Humans everywhere laughed and yelled and cried and joked and ate and talked. Kids raced to the front of lines and parents searched for lost bags. Sunscreen was applied and hats were worn. Trash cans overflowed and the pavement was harsh to walk on. The sun bore down on the park relentlessly. The reflections of the shiny metal rides made Grillby squint. People watched him, but he was watching right back.

"BROTHER!" shouted Papyrus as they neared the Ferris wheel. All three of them looked up. Frisk was sitting on Papyrus's shoulders, wielding a bone made of balloons. They raised it into the air in greeting. With one hand Papyrus held them steady, and with the other he carried the backpack from Toriel. Undyne was holding a spot for them in line. "HAVE YOU TRIED THE BUMPER CARS?"

"we've just done the tea cups," shouted Sans. "apparently rides are not for me."

Papyrus huffed. "NONSENSE. HELLO, ALPHYS!"

"H-hey, Papyrus," said Alphys.

"THERE'S ONLY ROOM FOR THREE IN EVERY CHAIR," he said.

"me and grillby will take frisk," said Sans. Frisk nodded and pat Papyrus head. Papyrus put down the bag so he could get Frisk down safely. They ran over and split Grillby and Sans hands, taking one in each of their own. Grillby was happy that they seemed to like him. He squeezed their hand. Frisk looked up at him with a smile. He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out the lollipop. It was a little warmer than he had hoped, but oh well. He slipped it into a pocket of their jean vest. Frisk nodded happily. He caught Sans grinning in the corner of his eye.

"Come on!" shouted Undyne. "We're almost at the front."

The line moved slowly. Sans smiled. This ride was more his speed. They all stood together, listening to Papyrus and Undyne talk about what rides they wanted to do. Frisk swung his and Grillby's arms back and forth and made funny faces at Alphys, who genuinely laughed for the first time that day.

Soon enough, it was their turn to ride. Alphys, Undyne, and Papyrus went first, with Alphys sandwiched in between them. Frisk jumped excitedly as they, Sans and Grillby got into their little cabin. The ride was slow, and every once in awhile it stopped so pods could empty and fill. There were 16 cabins, and the entire ride lasted about ten minutes.

Frisk sat in between Sans and Grillby and the three of them admired the view, pointing things out to one another. Frisk sucked happily on the lollipop.

"Look, you can see me and mum's apartment building from here," signed Frisk, who then pointed out into the distance.

"And Mount Ebott," added Grillby, looking at the mountain with a mix of nostalgia and sadness.

Sans's arm was around Frisk's shoulders. His hand was playing with the fabric of Grillby's sweater. It was warm. Everything about Grillby was warm.

"It's been so long since I've seen it from the outside..." said Grillby, almost to himself. Frisk looked up at him.

"You weren't born in the underground?" they signed.

"No," said Grillby.

Frisk nodded at that, but didn't say anything else. Again, there was a comfortable silence. Grillby lifted up his hand to hold Sans's. In the corner of his eye he saw Sans watching him with an obvious blush. Grillby kept his eyes on the ground, but he was well aware that Sans wasn't really paying attention to the view. Grillby turned away so Sans wouldn't see his cheeks burning brighter.

Eventually, the ride ground to a halt and it was their turn to get off. Undyne and Papyrus were chomping at the bit. As soon as Frisk's feet hit the ground Undyne lifted them up and the three of them ran off to the bumper cars, Alphys following behind at her own speed. Grillby and Sans were alone.

*****

They spent the next hours wandering around, trying out the different rides. Every once in awhile the others would pass them and they would all do something together, but for the most part they were alone. It got less and less awkward as the day went on, however Sans's tolerance for the rides didn't increase much so there was a lot of sitting around waiting for him to not feel like he was going to barf up magic.

They hit almost all of the attractions. Sans's favourite was the haunted house, mostly because of all the skeletons. He spent more time laughing at anatomical inaccuracies rather than being afraid of all the ghouls and ghosts popping up. They did it with Frisk, who's expression did not crack once throughout the entire house. 

Undyne was ruthless at bumper cars. She trapped Sans in a corner and Grillby had to come and knock her away. Alphys opted to join Undyne in her car instead of driving her own and shouted apologies for the both of them.

Grillby spent the entire day trying to get Sans to ride the Kamikaze, however Sans was vehemently against it. The ride spun it's passengers in a big circle, flipping them upside down. Sans was going to have none of that.

They bought Frisk cotton candy, but it was sadly human food so the others couldn't try it. It appeared to be straight sugar, though, and disintegrated upon contact with anything even a little moist. Papyrus sent Toriel a photo of Frisk eating it, sugar strings stuck all over their mouth and Toriel sent him back a lecture on proper childcare. The others feasted on cookies from her.

Things got less awkward. For once, Grillby talked more than Sans. Sans listened to his stories about the bar, how Grillby was trying to grow a few tomato plants on his porch, and all the things he was noticing about humans and Sans genuinely enjoyed it. Getting Grillby to open up at all was a herculean task, yet here he was, rambling on to Sans about the small details in his life.

"Why are you smiling?" said Grillby, looking at Sans nervously. There were sitting on a bench, hiding from the heat under the long shadow of the Kamikaze. 

"i'm not smilin'," said Sans, smiling.

"Yes you are," said Grillby.

"just nice to hear you talk," said Sans, patting Grillby's knee. Grillby blushed, both at the touch and the words.

"It's nice to have someone to talk to," said Grillby. He looked around. "Up for another go at the tea cups?"

"nah...why don't we get everyone together and have dinner instead? i saw a stall selling monster food."

"Sounds good," said Grillby. The two of them stood up and started walking. Grillby grabbed Sans's free hand and gave it a squeeze. Sans squeezed back while he texted Undyne to meet them in the big tent.

The big tent was exactly what it sounded like. There was a long line of stalls, at least a hundred meters long, with benches in front, all shaded under thick fabric. Sans and Grillby walked up and down, taking note of which stalls sold monster food while they waited for the others to show up. It turned out that there was only one. Good enough. Show up they did, with Papyrus piggybacking a tired looking Frisk.

"SANS," said Papyrus. "I'M GOING TO TAKE THEM HOME, IT'S ALREADY PRETTY LATE AND THEY HAVE SCHOOL TOMORROW."

Sans glanced at his watch. 8 o'clock. Time flew!

"sure thing pap," said Sans. "i might be a little late getting home tonight, so..."

"DON'T WORRY BROTHER, I CAN GO ONE NIGHT WITHOUT A BEDTIME STORY! CAN YOU GET HOME ON YOUR OWN?"

"i know a shortcut."

"OF COURSE."

Frisk wiggled out of Papyrus's hold to walk around and give everyone a goodbye hug. They signed something to Alphys while facing away from everyone else. Alphys blushed.

"Y-yeah, you too," she said, before hugging Frisk tight. "What did I do to deserve a friend like you, huh?" Frisk giggled as they walked back over to Papyrus.

"Bye!" signed Frisk as Papyrus lifted them up and held them against his chest.

Everyone watched them go, then looked at each other.

"Grub!" shouted Undyne.

"The stand selling churros and tacos is monster food," said Grillby. Undyne yelled gleefully. She grabbed Alphys's hand and marched off, with Grillby and Sans close behind.

The sun set as they ate dinner on one of the benches, watching the game booths. The closest one was a milk bottle pyramid game. Alphys watched more carefully than anyone else.

While Grillby, Sans, and Undyne chatted, she kept track of how much money people were paying and how much they were winning back. In the hour they sat there, not one stuffed animal was won. She started to watch more closely. The softball would smack the bottom bottle with incredible force, only for it to waver, but never fall. She smirked. They must have weighted the bottom pins. She kept watching, her smile growing bigger.

The guys running the booth were gonna get what was coming to them.

"The milk bottle game is rigged," Alphys said, interrupting the conversation. Undyne and Sans were predictable enough. She knew what was about to happen. "The bottom ones are weighted, probably filled with something."

Sans and Undyne exchanged a look.

"Shall we?" said Undyne.

"eh, you go, i'll think about it," said Sans. He wasn't sure breaking out the big guns for a carnival game was worth it.

"Wuss," she said, standing up with a predatory grace. 

Undyne walked up to the booth. They could hear her from where they sat.

"How do I get the big pig?" asked Undyne, pointing at a giant prize with child-like wonder.

"Knock down the pyramid three times in a row," said the attendant.

"Okay," said Undyne. "How much to play?"

"2 bucks, and your turn is over if you miss or if you get a prize."

Undyne smiled her threatening smile. She pulled two dollars out of her pocket and handed them over. The attendant gave her a softball.

"Uh, one sec," said Undyne. She rushed over to the table and held the ball in front of Alphys. "Lucky breath!"

"Uh, okay?" said Alphys. She breathed awkwardly on the softball. Undyne smiled down at her with a wink. Alphys blushed as Undyne sauntered back to the booth.

The first hit obliterated the pyramid. Undyne's throw was so fast the attendant didn't even realize she had thrown it until the bottles clattered on the pavement.

"Uh, would you like to try for the second tier of prizes, or..." said the attendant, watching Undyne warily.

"I think I'm going to cut my losses, y'know?" she said, feigning concern. "Can I get the teddy bear?"

"Uh, yeah, sure," said the attendant, relieved. 

Back at the bench Sans and Grillby were snickering. Undyne walked back and dramatically bestowed the teddy bear upon Alphys.

"T-thank you, sweetie," said Alphys, holding the bear. Undyne bent down and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Sans, you up?" she asked. Sans sighed and looked up at Grillby.

"want anything?" he asked with a smile.

"The shark?" said Grillby hopefully. Sans winked.

"Coming right up," he said, imitating Grillby's voice poorly. Sans made a show of pushing up the sleeves of his jacket. He stood up and sauntered over to the booth.

"here, kid," he said handing over two dollars from his pocket. "so lemme guess, i knock over the pyramid twice and i can get the shark?"

"Yeah," said the attendant, just happy that the big fish monster wasn't playing any more. This skeleton didn't even have any muscles. Their relief was short lived.

Sans tossed the softball up in the air, getting a feel for its weight. Carefully, he harnessed the magic from his soul without his eye glowing. He threw the ball at the pyramid. He hit right where he had hoped, but there wasn't enough power in his throw alone to knock over the bottles. With a little...encouragement, the bottles toppled over.

The attendant looked at him in disbelief, which they quickly concealed.

"Would you like your prize, or would you rather-"

"i'll go again," said Sans. "i want the shark."

The attendant nodded. They quickly set the bottles back up and handed Sans the softball. "Good luck," they said.

"don't need luck," said Sans. They frowned. They watched him closely this time, but they still didn't catch the little push his fingers did right as the ball hit the pyramid.

"Still want the shark?" they asked.

"yup."

"Congratulations!" they said, handing it over begrudgingly. "Play again anytime!"

"i might," said Sans, walking back to the bench. Grillby was beaming and Undyne was holding in a laugh.

"Wonder why you never joined the guard. You're just as good as Pap, but you're not...y'know. Pap," she said.

"eh, i had other things going on. like it?" he said, passing the shark to Grillby.

"I love it! This is going on top of the jukebox."

Sans chuckled, sitting back down on his and Grillby's side of the bench. "we should get the pig, shouldn't we," he said.

"Frisk would love it," said Undyne. "Plus I love winning. Y'all wait here!"

Not two minutes later and they were in possession of a giant pink pig. The attendant watched them, clearly frustrated. At least their winning had attracted a line of humans to the booth for them.

"So, we gonna call it a night?" said Undyne, setting the pig down on the table. It was Alphys-sized.

"Actually," said Grillby. "Sans has yet to go on the Kamikaze."

Everyone at the table grinned except for Sans.

"no. no way."

*****

Sans swore as they were locked into the cage. He fiddled with the padded bar holding him in, reefing it back and forth to make sure it was properly secured.

"Calm down," said Grillby, which earned him a string of expletives. "It'll be fine!" he said, intertwining his fingers with Sans, who didn't pull away but also didn't stop swearing.

"if i die i'm haunting you and undyne, i hope you know that," he said angrily, gesturing wildly with his free hand. "every night i'll come into the bar while you're sleeping and move one of the liquor bottles to the wrong place, have fun living with that for the rest of your life!"

Sans was comforted a little by the heat of Grillby's hand against his own chilly fingers, but that comfort soon faded as the ride hummed to life with a jolt.

"oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," he mumbled. Grillby's laughed and his flame cackled right along with him. "oh yeah, you're having fun!"

"I am!" said Grillby.

The ride started slow. They swung back, then forwards, then back, then forwards, each time the ride getting higher. 

"no no no no no," said Sans, his eyes open wide with fear as the sinking feeling of falling grew with every pass. The ground rushed up towards them, then they would be tossed up into the air right before collision.

Grillby shouted with joy as the drops got bigger. His flame whipped wickedly in the wind. Sans held onto his hand with a death grip, his other hand tightly clutching the padded bar that kept him in his seat.

"grillby!" Sans shouted as they neared the peak of the ride. "i'm going to kill you!"

Grillby's response was manic laughter and shouts.

Finally, the Kamikaze reached the top of its arc, flipping them completely upside down. Grillby hollered and Sans was silent for once. It did one more full loop before it began to stop. Sans didn't speak again for the entirety of the ride, but he never let go of Grillby's hand.

Grillby quieted down as the ride slowed. He giggled as they stopped, his eyes wide and his expression joyous. "That was something!" he said.

"never. again." said Sans. Grillby shook his hand around.

"Hey! You did great! Sans?"

Sans was looking ahead, the lights in his eyes dim.

"never again."

Grillby frowned. Maybe he shouldn't have forced Sans into this. "Let's get you out of here," said Grillby, undoing the lock that kept the bars down. The ride attendant came by and opened up the cage and Grillby helped Sans out. Sans wobbled, his knees weak. Grillby wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

Undyne and Alphys were waiting for them. "How was it!?" shouted Undyne.

"you're dead to me," said Sans, looking through her.

"Awesome!" said Undyne, as though she had won a badge. She was carrying all three prizes. "Alphys and I are gonna get going. Do you need a ride home?" Grillby checked his watch for the first time in a long time. 9:36pm. The park was going to close in 20 minutes anyway.

"what? no, no I know a shortcut," said Sans, distracted.

"Huh. The rides really freak you out, don't they?" asked Alphys. Sans just nodded.

"I can get him home," said Grillby. "It was nice to meet you two!"

"You too Grillby!" said Undyne. Alphys nodded and smiled shyly.

"Today was fun," said Alphys. "We should do it again some time!" She leaned in and wiggled her eyebrows at Sans. He looked at her, utterly serious, and shook his head.

"Fair enough," said Undyne. "Oh! Your shark!"

She tossed the prize Sans had won into Grillby's free hand.

"Wouldn't want to forget that," she said with a wink. "Alright, we're off. See you two around!"

Undyne and Alphys walked off. Undyne pat Alphys's shoulder until Alphys gave in. Undyne swooped her up into a piggyback then ran off towards the gates. Grillby was happy that Alphys seemed to be doing a lot better than earlier. The same could not be said for Sans.

"Hey, you okay?" he said gently.

"the lights are pretty," said Sans.

Grillby paused. For the first time that night he took the time to appreciate how festive the park was, especially after the sun went down. Fairy lights covered the ceiling of the big tent. All the rides buzzed and hummed with life and light. The music felt nice in the cool summer air, and in the distance you could hear the sounds of the city. It was quieter than earlier, and most people were leaving the park or on their last ride. Grillby watched as some people counted how many were in lines, seeing if they'd be able to fit in one last ride. Others strolled to the gates, or sat down to enjoy a few more minutes in the park, much calmer than it had been earlier.

"Yeah, they are. Ready to go home?"

"yeah," said Sans. Tentatively, he wrapped an arm around Grillby's waist. They started walking towards the gates. It was a strange feeling.

Grillby knew Sans well. Extremely well. Better, probably, than anyone else. And Sans definitely knew Grillby better than anyone. With his arm around Sans's shoulder, and Sans's arm around him, it just felt...right. He felt safe and comfortable. 

"Do you need a ride home?"

"no, i can shortcut."

"Is that what you did the other day at the bar?"

"what? oh, uh, yeah. sorry, i usually don't let people see me doing it. it's a little weird."

Grillby shrugged. "Are you well enough to do it now?"

"uh, probably?" said Sans. "i've been able to do it before way more shaken up than i am now."

Grillby didn't ask what situations would have required that.

"Why don't I just drive you home?"

"i'm on the other side of town, grillby. the bar's half an hour from our apartment."

"I'm not just going to leave you here if you aren't sure you can get home, Sans."

Sans groaned. "fine," he huffed. He knew from experience that Grillby was almost as stubborn as Toriel. There was silence for a few moments. "and uh, thanks, too."

*****

"shotgun!" called Sans as they approached the black car. He let go of Grillby and wobbled over to the passenger door, leaning on the car for balance.

"Did you think I was going let you drive?" said Grillby with a laugh.

"hey, a guy can dream!"

Grillby chuckled as he dug around in his pockets for the keys. He unlocked the car door and the two of them got in. The shark went in between their seats.

Sans immediately noted that the car was just as clean as the bar. Well, the bar counter at least. Grillby allowed for no mess or clutter in what he considered his space. Sans smiled, thinking about all the time Grillby had cleaned up ketchup spills in a huff.

"Where do you live?" asked Grillby, starting the car. "Seatbelt."

"up by the mountain," said Sans, clicking himself in. "i can give directions from here."

"Alright," said Grillby, backing out of his parking space.

They drove in relative silence for awhile, Sans giving directions and occasionally shooting off bad one liners that Grillby pretended not to laugh at. As they drove into Sans's neighbourhood the silence suddenly became a little more tense.

"so..." said Sans.

"Coffee on Tuesday?" said Grillby, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel. Sans tried not to smile like an idiot. SECOND DATE! He felt the dreaded butterflies.

"yes. right. good. when?"

"Nine? Bar doesn't open 'till twelve on weekdays."

"yeah, i know," said Sans, before looking away to hide his blush. If he could pretend he didn't have the bar's schedule memorized for two more minutes that would be great. "right right, yeah, nine, that works."

Grillby hummed contentedly. Sans liked that sound.

"uh, thanks for coming today," said Sans awkwardly, as though he were one of the early prototypes of Mettaton's body. Those had been far less graceful and far more...uncanny.

"I had fun," said Grillby.

"turn right here." They were on Sans's street now. "annnnnnnnnnnnnnd, right here. wait, i mean stop. don't turn right now or you'll run into the building. unless you turn left. then it'll be okay."

Grillby groaned, hiding a chuckle. Sans undid his seatbelt and went for the door but Grillby snapped at him. "Stop it!" he said, getting out of the car, then walking around to the passenger side. He opened the door and held out a hand for sans. "You have to at least give me a chance to be a gentleman."

"oo la la, fancy, grillby. where'd you learn that one?"

"You," said Grillby as Sans took his hand. Grillby helped him out of the car, then closed the door carefully. It made a nice thud sound. "Come on, I'm walking you to the door."

Sans didn't drop Grillby's hand and soon realized how awkward this goodbye was going to be. How did this go. What did they do. Was now when Grillby yelled "psych," pointed at some cameras hidden in the bushes then never spoke to Sans again, forcing him to move away to a secluded corner of the Canadian arctic and change his name to something unsuspicious, like This Guy I Liked Was Mean To Me And I Was Not Prepared For the Emotional Consequences (pronounced Mikayla)?

"hey, grillby, i—" he started nervously, free hand in his pocket. Grillby didn't stop him but he didn't have anywhere to go.

"This is nice," said Grillby.

"...yeah."

"Hah, wow, okay, I don't really know what to say."

"that makes two of us," said Sans. Both of them chuckled nervously and walked up the few steps to the apartment.

They stopped in front of the glass doors to the building and turned to face each other. Cicadas buzzed all around them. Grillby's hand was becoming uncomfortably warm but Sans had no idea how to leave. He could just shortcut away. It would be tricky not to pull Grillby with him though, and then he'd have Grillby in his bedroom and that was a whole 'nother problem.

He shuffled his weight back and forth from foot to foot, resisting the urge to pace.

"i'll see you on—"

"Can I kiss you?" asked Grillby, while making intense eye contact.

"w-whaa?" stuttered Sans with the grace and charm of a potato.

"R-right, okay, nevermind, Tuesday!" said Grillby, pulling his hand from Sans.

"no, uh," said Sans quickly as Grillby started down the steps. "yes?"

Grillby turned on his heels. One step down from Sans and the height difference wasn't quite as ridiculous. He gave Sans a fleeting peck on his cheekbone, then backed away.

"Well, goodnight!" said Grillby in a bit of a panic. He walked briskly back towards his car.

"see you on tuesday," said Sans weakly.

Grillby didn't stop, gesturing awkwardly with his hands. "Yeah. Tuesday. Goodnight!" He was still blushing as he got in the car.

"Night Grillby," said Sans. He pulled open the front door to the apartment building, his whole body buzzing with adrenaline. He watched from behind the glass as Grillby drove away until he was out of sight. His cheek still felt warm where Grillby had kissed it. For a few moments he stood in shock. Had that actually just happened? It felt much longer than it had been.

Sans couldn't help himself; as he rode in the elevator up to his floor he giggled like an idiot. Him and Grillby. Who'd a thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments = grimbo lives another day


	3. trust me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This guy took a little longer since I needed surgery. Dedicated to the sweetheart who baked me a cake and came over and talked to me about movies for 2 hours. You made my day man. (During which time we could have just watched Primer, but I digress.)
> 
> This baby was a nightmare to write. 11 405 words. Kill me oh my god.
> 
> So they keep on doing their thing. Read on, gentle soul.

They'd been dating for a couple months now. Sans was regularly visiting the bar again and close to paying off his tab. The shift from a customer/employee relationship, even a close one, to going steady, had been hard. Sans was working at some university doing...whatever it was Sans was good at. No matter how many times Grillby asked he had no idea what Sans was talking about. Grillby was very good at a lot of things, but theoretical physics was not one of them. Regardless of what it was, Sans could, for the first time in a long time, severely dent his tab every couple weeks.

It relieved a lot of the tension in their relationship. Grillby didn't want to be pushy, but at the same time he was owed that money and writing off Sans's debt only put Sans in more debt to him. He wanted to be equals and independent. Grillby had been clear about that from the beginning. His ground rules were that business was separate and they had to have hobbies and friends outside of their relationship. 

Sans was happy with that. Their dates got less awkward as time went on. Sans started bringing Grillby with him to Asgore's barbeques and group nights. Both of them were happy to listen to the other talk about mundane days, so they never ran out of things to discuss. It didn't hurt that both of them could turn anything into a joke. They made each other laugh.

Despite all that, Grillby had yet to invite Sans up to his apartment. It was the second floor of the bar, with the entrance located behind the building in the alleyway. There was one at the back of the kitchen too, but Grillby kept it locked-from the apartment side-so people had to at least go to a little trouble when they really wanted to bug him about something. Sans didn't ask and Grillby didn't offer.

It was Thursday morning. Grillby rapped on his kitchen table as he did the weeks crossword puzzle. A few kids had set up The Underground Times as a way for monsters to keep in touch. For the most part it was fluff stories: birthdays, another family moving up from the Underground, a postcard from Mettaton, or TV show reviews. Every once in awhile Alphys would submit something with a title like "Bill 42 Could Impact Flower Importation" (a classic that most monsters could quote), but otherwise it was just a nice way to stay connected. Sometimes Grillby submitted recipes. 

He sipped his tea (monster food was always safe, even in liquid form). 3 letters, the hint was "Wau." Grillby stared at it for a couple minutes. He clicked his pen over and over again, wracking his brain for what it could be but came up empty. Sighing, he picked up his phone and dialed Sans.

"y'ello?"

"3 letters, the hint is wau."

"one." Grillby scribbled in the letters. They worked. "i got stuck on 6 letters, hint 'kiss kiss fall in love.'"

"Does Haruhi work?" said Grillby, pretending he didn't already know. He waited for a few moments as Sans scribbled in the answer. 

"um, uh, yeah. what's that from?"

Grillby thought long and hard. "Nothing important."

"um, okay."

"Good morning," said Grillby.

"are you working today?"

"Yeah, in the afternoon. In the evening the kids take over." Grillby had employed a few other monsters, and they'd all been working long enough to be able to run the joint without him. He still had to drop in sometimes when he was supposedly free: broken appliances, sick employees, too much demand and too few hands.

"wanna get together after?"

"Sure. Plan?"

"come over here and hang out, frisk has a bake sale so you can help me out. tori needs a night off so they're sleeping over."

"Oh, Frisk! What time?"

"eh, swing by anytime after school's out."

"We can make my famous pie recipe."

"i have literally never heard of—wait, one sec." Sans's voice faded, as though he was covering the receiver with a bony hand. "papyrus what does kiss kiss fall in love reference?"

Grillby groaned and put his head in his hands. He couldn't pick out Papyrus's words through the phone but he was sure Papyrus knew what it was. Undyne had been the one to recommend it in the paper and there was little the two of them didn’t share with each other.

"woah, really!?"

"Sans—"

"we should watch it together sometime," said Sans, his voice clear again. "i can't get into most of the anime my bro watches, but if you liked that one i probably will too."

Grillby sighed, wanting to bang his head against the wall. He didn't have the heart to tell Sans it was essentially a season (hopefully one day two) of ridiculousness. "My place on Sunday? We can binge it."

"we need snacks."

"We can go shopping beforehand."

"i like the sound of that."

"I'll bring up the fancy stuff," said Grillby playfully.

"the fancy stuff!" said Sans in mock horror. "look at you putting the moves on."

Grillby laughed, a blush taking over his face. "Okay okay I have to go get the bar cleaned up. I'll text when I'm on my way tonight."

"bring the pie recipe," said Sans intensely.

"Will do. Bye!"

"later!"

Grillby heard the click as Sans hung up, then ended the call on his end. He buried his face in his hands. He'd invited Sans over to drink. Great.

 

"Hello Frisk," said Grillby, dropping his bag so he could catch them as they jumped up. He held them with one hand and they wrapped their arms around his neck and their legs around his hips. They buried their face in his neck, enjoying the warmth.

"hey!" shouted Sans from the kitchen. Thin smoke filled the tiny apartment. Papyrus was flapping a dish towel underneath the smoke detector, but he gave Grillby a friendly nod and smile. "can you open up a window?"

"What happened?" asked Grillby. He kicked off his shoes.

"well," started Sans. "papyrus and frisk started before i got home." Frisk shrugged guiltily as Grillby walked over to the window. "they tried to make muffins..."

"Yes?" said Grillby, unlocking the latch and pushing open the window with his free hand.

"but set the oven in celcius when it should have been in fahrenheit."

Grillby gut laughed. Frisk pulled away a little with a pout and punched his shoulder lightly.

"I'm sorry Frisk, but it is funny," he wheezed. He carried them into the small kitchen with him, where Sans was scrubbing a muffin pan in the sink. Grillby squeezed past him and opened up the door to the porch, letting more fresh air into the apartment.

"yeah. so long story short, i came home to papyrus and frisk freaking out and a fire in the kitchen."

"All good now?"

Sans smiled. Oh no. "the fire in the kitchen's only gotten hotter." Grillby blushed. He pecked Sans on the cheek on his way to get his bag, which made Frisk roll their eyes and stick out their tongue in mock disgust.

"I THINK WE'LL BE GOOD NOW," said Papyrus as Grillby walked out of the kitchen. "HELLO GRILLBY!" he sighed.

"Hello Papyrus." Grillby picked up his bag. With Frisk it was harder to straighten after bending his knees to reach it. "Read the instructions more carefully next time," he said playfully.

Papyrus frowned and shrugged. "I'M AHEAD OF MY TIME. IF SANS HAD LET FRISK EAT THEM I'M SURE THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN FANTASTIC!"

"They were human food?"

"UNFORTUNATELY. I WISH I COULD HAVE TRIED THEM."

"...Right. I'm sure they would have been great."

Papyrus beamed. "REALLY?"

"Uh, sure."

Once they were back in the kitchen he let Frisk down.

"Liar," they signed. He put a finger to his mouth and widened his eyes. Frisk giggled.

"so how was work," asked Sans, who had given up on the pan and left it to "soak," which was code for "sit in the dirty pile of dishes in the sink until 10 panicked minutes before Tori showed and they had to keep up the illusion they were competent and capable child care providers."

"I am a tortured soul, doomed to a profession where the one thing that can cause me serious harm is that which the customers want the most," said Grillby dramatically, posing as though he were a character in a soap opera.

"what?" said Sans with concern. Grillby held out his right hand.

"Spilled water on it. Doesn't hurt too much anymore."

Sans hissed and grabbed his arm gently, twisting it to get a better look at Grillby's palm. He had bandaged it up, but the white flames poking out from the edges gave away where the water had hit.

"shit, grillby," said Sans. "does it hurt?"

"Not much," he said with a shrug. "Human ordered water in fries. I just should have been more careful. Hit it while I was pouring the glass."

"do you want me to call tori?" said Sans, still examining the wound. "she'll fix it up in no time."

"I'll live," said Grillby.

"are you sure?" asked Sans with a frown.

"It's really no big deal."

Sans frowned and let go of Grillby's hand reluctantly. "alright... did you bring the pie recipe?"

"Yes! And a pie dish, I wasn't sure if you would have one."

"Can I help?" signed Frisk. Sans wobbled his hands in a maybe.

"how 'bout you and papyrus go grab supper. chinese takeout from mettaton's place?"

Frisk beamed. "Fortune cookies!" they signed.

"yup." said Sans. He fished around in his pocket for change and sent them on their way. With the kitchen cleared, Sans and Grillby got to work.

"I brought aprons!" said Grillby.

"you have aprons? multiple?"

"Well, my work ones are pretty boring. Dogamy always brought me aprons when he found them in the dump." Grillby pulled out two aprons from his bag. One was emblazoned with "GRILL MASTER," which he looped over his head. The other was a soft pastel purple.

"why do you get the cool one?" said Sans, taking the pretty one.

"Because I'm cool." Sans's eyes lit up. "Don't." Sans shrugged and rolled his eyes. He put it on, then turned away from Grillby.

"tie me up?"

"Sure." Grillby pulled the strings. His brows scrunched a little as he felt the apron pull on Sans's belly. Everyone always talked about how elementals were weird, but they had nothing on skeletons. He tied it in a bow. Lovely. "Good?"

"yup. your turn."

Grillby let Sans do it even though he could have tied it better in half the time. Doing little things for each other felt nice.

First they made the pie. Well, Grillby did the grunt work while Sans watched and asked questions. Sans attempted the lattice while Grillby moved onto the human food muffins. Preparing human food was similar to monster food. His skills transferred. It was weird not to be able to taste the muffin batter, though. Tasting the muffin batter was the best part.

"like this?" asked Sans. Grillby straightened his glasses to look at his haphazard handiwork.

"Yeah...um...no," he said. "Over under, over under."

"it is over under over under," said Sans in confusion, looking between Grillby and the pie.

"No, you're doing entire strips over and entire strips under. Here, do you have any paper?" Sans pulled a grocery list off the fridge and passed it to Grillby. Grillby pulled a pen out of his apron. "Right, okay, see? Like that." He doodled a rough drawing, and Sans nodded in understanding. Sans looked at the pie.

"wow. really not like that."

"It's okay, just take them off and try again," said Grillby with a smile. He had to admit, it was nice to be better than Sans at at least one thing.

They kept busy, Sans sneaking in flirting, usually through the fine art of puns. Grillby pretended to hate it.

Before long, Papyrus and Frisk were back with Chinese food. It made the apartment smell even greasier and saltier than the bar. They ate in front of the TV Papyrus had dragged up from the Underground on the coffee table Toriel had insisted they purchase. Apparently cardboard boxes were "appropriate for forts, not furniture." That had ended in a permanent cardboard box fort in Papyrus's room.

Papyrus complained about how unhealthy it was, especially for Frisk, who was "still growing," but ate noodles happily anyway. Frisk was the only one who could figure out how to use the chopsticks and they rubbed it in everyone's faces, stealing food from right under their victim's noses.

Grillby straightened the lattice, which Sans had done a much better job of the second time around, and put the pie in the oven as the others joked in the main room. Papyrus was recounting a dramatized story of going to a knitting class with Undyne. At least Grillby hoped it was dramatized. There was a lot of arson being described.

Sans, sitting on the floor, watched as Grillby came back into the living room. For a few moments Papyrus’s words faded. Grillby was most beautiful in the most mundane moments. Standing in the kitchen archway, late afternoon light made the dust visible in the air and glinted on his glasses. Grillby looked down at his hands, coated in flour. Carefully, he heated his good hand enough to burn off the flour, which dissolved into a wispy smoke before suddenly dispersing. He cooled down as quickly as he had heated up.

He pat his other hand on the apron with a grimace. It wasn't nearly as efficient or effective. Grillby then reached around his back and expertly undid the knot Sans had made earlier. In the same fluid motion he slipped the apron over his head, then folded it neatly.

Grillby looked up and caught Sans watching. A small smile curled his lips upward as he walked over to sit down cross-legged beside Sans, the apron placed in his lap. He touched his knee to Sans's, who looked away to hide his blush. Stupid bartender with a stupid face and stupid jokes.

“AND SO, IN CONCLUSION, I AM GOING TO CONSTRUCT A HAT NEXT WEEK,” said Papyrus, waving his hands in a flourish.

Sans suddenly snapped to attention. 

“way to go pap,” he said, not quite sure where the conversation had gone since he was last listening, but confident that the statement covered almost every possible scenario. Papyrus was great. 

The rest of the evening was largely uneventful. Sans tried to convince Grillby to let him at least give healing magic a shot, but Grillby waved him off, telling Sans that it happened all the time and that it really didn’t hurt. Secretly, Sans was relieved. He sucked at healing magic big time and would probably have been in bed the next couple days. He still would have done it, though. Grillby made it hard to think straight.

Around nine Grillby went home. Papyrus turned in soon after that. 

Sans had noticed Papyrus was sleeping a lot more. Well…sleeping at all, he supposed. After coming to the surface Papyrus had slowed down enough to take care of himself. As self-destructive as Sans was, Papyrus wasn’t much better. It was good to see him rest. Frisk was good for him. Undyne, of course, was amazing. But having just one more friend who really looked out for him made a big difference. Some nights, though, he still had trouble sleeping. Sans worried. Sans always worried.

Frisk and Sans stayed up reading in Sans’s bedroom, where they’d set up an air mattress on the floor. Somehow, Frisk had talked him into giving them the bed. They were sprawled across his double and he sat on the floor, leaning against the frame. The lights were off except for the lamp on the nightstand. Sans had coloured on the lampshade with paint so that the light came off in the shape of stars. Papyrus had helped him draw properly shaped stars to paint around.

Frisk patted his skull to get his attention. “I saw you looking at Grillby,” signed Frisk, leaning off the bed in their striped pajamas.

“very observant,” said Sans, rolling his eyes.

Frisk grinned. “You like like him.”

“that’s the idea,” said Sans, flipping to the next page of the article on spotted leopards. Frisk tapped his skull to get him to look at them again.

“But do you…” Frisk paused for dramatic effect. “Love him?”

Sans groaned, his face scrunching up in distaste. “we are not doing this.”

Frisk giggled. They winked and pretended to zipper their lip. “Your secret is safe with me!” they signed.

“frisk I trust you with nothing.” Frisk watched him for a few moments, before their face grew into a larger and larger grin. Suddenly Sans caught his mistake. “but I don’t have to! because i don’t love him! because I’ve only been dating the guy for—“

Sans was cut off as Frisk fell off the bed in a fit of giggles. “oh man are you okay,“ he started, before being consumed by their infectious laughter. Frisk rolled around on the ground and Sans's shoulders bounced erratically.

The door burst open.

“IS EVERYONE ALRIGHT?” said Papyrus in a panic. “I HEARD A THUNK.”

“yeah we’re fine, sorry bro,” said Sans, sobering up. “did we wake you up?”

Papyrus visibly relaxed, his shoulders sinking in a sigh. “WELL THAT’S GOOD,” he said. “AND…NO.”

Sans frowned. He looked closer. Papyrus had bags under his eyes and his fingers were rubbing together nervously. It must be a bad night. “wanna go grab the other air mattress?”

Papyrus thought about it for a few moments. He leaned on the doorknob and glanced at his bedroom door, flung open in a panic, then back at Frisk who was making handguns at him. “WELL, ALRIGHT,” he said. “BUT WE’RE GOING TO BED! NO MORE TOMFOOLERY.”

They all slept well that night. The bed was forgotten and they all curled up in a pile in the floor, Frisk wedged between Sans and Papyrus and a truly excessive number of blankets piled on top of them.

*****

Sans beeped the Vespa horn, bringing his scooter to a bumpy stop in the alleyway. He steadied the vehicle with a foot on the ground, then popped down the kick stand. Sans locked the handlebars and yanked the key out of the ignition. He slid off the seat onto the loose gravel road. It crunched under his sneakers.

There was a knock from a second-storey window. He pulled off his helmet and looked up as a very shirtless Grillby cranked it open. Sans wasn’t into Grillby like that, but he could still very much appreciate, and be distracted by, aesthetic beauty and wowie if Grillby's literally glowing chest and arms were not a masterpiece.

“Two minutes, can’t find my good turtleneck!” shouted Grillby.

“that’s fine!” Sans shouted back, his voice mercifully not cracking. Grillby gave him a thumbs up. His flame hadn’t wavered so he must, thankfully, have not caught Sans’s double meaning. Sans left his helmet on the handlebars and killed time by watching a flock of pigeons as he waited for Grillby to get dressed. They swirled under the low summer clouds.

Every day was exciting for the monsters, after having been underground for so long. This day in particular was quite lovely. There was a cool breeze, welcome relief after months of heat. The clouds were spotty and low and grey. The local water park wasn't happy, but for everyone else it was a nice day for strolls and open windows. 

A few minutes later and Grillby was locking the door to his home, fully dressed. He stuffed the keys in his pocket and zipped it closed as he walked over to Sans, a smile on his face. Sans noticed that the bandage was still on, but he chose not to bring it up. Grillby had been pretty adamant that it would heal on its own.

"Hey," he said.

"nice to see you!" Sans reached up to give him a quick greeting hug. Grillby had to bend down a little. Sans liked hugging Grillby. Fire elementals made the best cuddlers.

They parted and turned their attention to the scooter. "safe to assume you've never ridden one before?" Sans said with an eager smile.

"That is a good assumption," said Grillby, eyeing the scooter. He crossed his arms, kicking his heels against the ground with every slow step as he circled around it. Grillby didn't trust the thing. How did it balance? It didn't make any sense. There were only two wheels. It didn't make any sense at all.

"don't worry, all you've gotta do is hold on to me and not completely freak out and kill us both in a fiery crash," said Sans, his smile still a little too delighted for Grillby's liking. What kind of monster enjoyed commuting via tiny rolling unbalanced chair? A stupid one. Grillby was dating an idiot.

"I always had a feeling the crash that killed me would be fiery," said Grillby. Sans laughed and shot him a finger gun. He popped open the top case to grab the helmet he'd brought for Grillby.

"really, don't worry. it's not as scary as it looks."

"Whatever you say," said Grillby, catching the helmet when Sans tossed it to him. It fit him pretty well. Sans slammed the top case closed and locked it as Grillby strapped on the helmet. "Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"tori lets me drive frisk around on this thing," said Sans, gesturing widely at the Vespa.

Grillby raised an eyebrow, stopping his pacing to give Sans the most skeptical of skeptical looks over his glasses.

"i'm serious," said Sans defensively.

"No?" said Grillby, almost laughing. There was no way Toriel let Frisk ride whatever abomination this was. Why couldn't Sans have just gotten a car like everyone else!?

"yeah. i'm a good driver, grillbz. trust me on this one."

"Grillbz" was not assured by the finger guns that followed. Grillby crossed his arms, not at all interested in getting on the Vespa. "I can drive us," he said, pointing an elbow towards his car, parked along the side of the alleyway.

Sans looked back and forth from the car and Grillby, almost offended. "that thing? grillby that thing is not nearly as cool as velma."

"Velma?" said Grillby.

Sans gestured at the Vespa.

"No. No way did you name your scooter Velma."

Sans shrugged. "papyrus was always more of a scooby fan but I liked velma. clever. dependable. cool!" said Sans with a smile so wide it stretched his face beyond what Grillby thoughts skeletons were capable of.

Grillby considered feigning illness in a last ditch effort to avoid the ride to and back from the grocery store. With a great sigh, he resigned himself to his fate. “Alright. Strap me into Velma.”

“no seatbelts,” said Sans.

Sans then received the longest, most exasperated stare of his life. Despite the glare on his glasses and lack of distinguishable facial features, Grillby expressed defeat and disappointment better in that moment than anyone Sans had ever met. His mouth curled in disgust and his flame flickered like a candle in a gale. Finally Grillby put a hand up to cover his face, his flame still bouncing madly.

“Of course it doesn’t,” he mumbled, his voice airier than usual. “Why—“ he started, then paused to hook his hands behind his neck and walk in a slow circle, his eyes closed. “Why the fuck would it.”

Sans rolled his eyes. “you’re being ridiculous. come on. we can do this.” Sans hopped up onto the bike. He was too short to place his feet on either side, so he balanced the whole scooter with one as he knocked up the kickstand. Sans put the key in the ignition and unlocked the handlebars before gripping them.

Sans turned to look up at Grillby, who was muttering something to himself under his breath. Sans considered giving in and letting Grillby drive. But no. Grillby could do this. If it was anything like the carnival by the time they were on the main roads Grillby would be asking him to go faster. “grillby?” said Sans, more gently than before.

“Yeah?” Grillby stopped and opened his eyes to look at Sans.

“trust me,” said Sans, his eyes focused on Grillby's. “if it wasn’t safe i wouldn’t want you to do it. but everything is going to be okay. i know what i’m doing and i’ll be careful. promise.”

Grillby calmed a little at Sans's genuine tone. He dropped his hands to his sides. They still bunched the fabric of his jacket nervously. He took a couple deep breaths. “Okay. What do I do.”

Sans smiled proudly at him. “okay, come over here; leg over and sit behind me.” Sans scoffed jealously as Grillby was easily able to step over and straddle the scooter. Grillby sat down, his feet firmly planted on either side. Stupid tall fire elemental so tall with legs so long it wasn't fair—

“Good?” Grillby asked, scooching back as far as he could go.

“you’re tall.” Grillby chuckled, his hands still fidgeting at his sides. Sans sighed. “okay, yes, good. arms around me. “

“How forward!” said Grillby jokingly. “Careful Sans, I might start to think you like me.”

“the only thing i like is the open road,” said Sans, dropping his voice. "and snow leopards, which turn out to be really cool." That earned him a proper laugh from Grillby, who looped his arms around Sans's ribcage. He frowned as he found a surprisingly solid chest to hold on to.

“How do skeletons even work,” he grumbled.

“depends on the skeleton,” said Sans. “some hard, some lazy.” Another laugh from Grillby. Sans breathed a sigh of relief. Good. He’d gotten Grillby to calm down, at least a little. “okay, feet up on the board.” Grillby obliged. “ready?”

“As I'll ever be..." mumbled Grillby. He held onto Sans tighter. Sans was not about to complain. Even through a turtleneck and a jacket Grillby's embrace was cozy.

"then we're off! just hold on." Sans started up the scooter then slowly started down the road, bringing the foot that had been balancing Velma up onto the footboard. The gravel crunched under her wheels. "you alright?" asked Sans, not having to shout loud to be heard.

Grillby's only response was to grab fistful's of Sans's jacket. Sans smiled. He brought the scooter to a stop at the end of the alley, dropping his foot to balance them.

"you doin' alright, grillby?" Sans asked over the hum of the engine.

"Not dead yet," said Grillby.

"that's the spirit!" said Sans. He checked the road before accelerating onto the much smoother pavement.

The ride was as uneventful as Sans had promised. Grillby's hold didn't loosen and he played with the fabric of Sans's jacket. Every once in awhile Sans could hear him muttering to himself, but never loud enough for Sans to pick it up through his helmet. It didn't take them long to reach the only grocery store in the whole world that sold monster food.

Sans parked them on the edge of the lot, decelerating slowly and catching the scooter from falling with a foot on the ground. Grillby let go of him as he locked the handlebars and dropped the kickstand. By the time he was done Grillby had already leapt off Velma and was pacing tightly in a panic, his hands unclipping the helmet and his whole body flickering and threatening to melt the everything within ten meters of him. Sans hopped off the scooter and turned towards Grillby, his smile wide and proud.

"That is not like the carnival," said Grillby, lifting the helmet off his head. He tossed it at Sans. Grillby missed, but Sans caught it anyway. He placed it on the seat of the scooter with one hand.

"you did amazing!" said Sans, throwing his hands up into the air.

"And we have to go back too. We have to go back." Grillby was struck by a sudden realization. He stopped pacing and looked around the parking lot, his expression a vague mixture of disgust and shock. "I live here now," he whispered, his voice soft and horrified.

Sans wrapped his arms around Grillby, pinning his arms to his side. "you did great and you'll do great later, but for now we need snacks."

Grillby looked down at him, horrified. "Now is not the time for snacks!"

"that's literally why we're here."

Grillby paused. "Right," he said softer. "All this for snacks. Why did we do this. All you're going to eat are ketchup packets anyway—" Sans raised a hand defensively "—don't lie to me Sans I know your pockets are full of them." Sans nodded and wrapped the hand back around Grillby.

They stood there for a few moments as Grillby collected himself. "i have to let go man you're really hot right now." Grillby nodded.

Sans left to lock the helmets away and Grillby stood there, his flame slowly returning back to a neater form. He didn't notice Sans had grabbed his hand until it was shaken around.

"how're you feelin'?"

"Tired." said Grillby.

"we'll be at your place before you know it." Sans smiled widely. Grillby blushed. Why was he so cute!? "but for now...snacks!"

*****

The "grocery store" (so called because the name Asgore chose for it was so ridiculous and stupid that everyone refused to use it) was run by and for monsters. A lot of the monsters who had previously sold food in shops and stalls had gotten together and decided everyone who had moved to the surface needed one location where they could buy the essentials. It had also provided an excellent, monster-friendly employer for other. While humans could eat everything, monsters were limited to only monster food. The grocery store made things easier.

"nicecream?" asked Sans, peering through the door of the freezer.

"Why don't we just get cream and chocolate syrup instead."

Sans took a moment to think about it then nodded his head. "good point."

"Shall we skip the frozen section?"

"probably for the best," said Sans jokingly.

"Probably," agreed Grillby. They shared a look and Grillby laughed. "Sorry, you shouldn't have ask out someone so hot!" he said awkwardly as they moved on to the next aisle.

"pft, you're right, i could've found someone way cooler." Grillby pretended to hate the pun, groaning and covering his face with his hands. "chips. okay. what do you like?"

"What was Muffet making, those are good."

"i think she just called them 'muffet's chips.'"

"Oh, here. Purple bag." Grillby tossed it into the shopping basket Sans was carrying. They had already chosen out "Muffet's Licorice," "Muffet's assorted candy" and "Crackers Shaped Like Spiders." Muffet had become something of a tycoon since the barrier fell.

"oohh, instant noodles!"

"I've never had them."

"used to eat them with alphys," said Sans, grabbing four packets off the shelf and dropping them into the basket. "they're kinda salty, but not bad."

"You and Alphys knew each other? Before...everything?"

Sans shrugged. "who doesn't know me?"

"Most people," said Grillby. "At least not well," he added.

Sans was quiet for a few seconds as they browsed down the aisle. He took a breath as though he was going to say something, then closed it. Grillby watched as his right hand wormed its way into his pocket. Sans did that when he was nervous or lying. He didn’t think Grillby noticed. But he did.

Sans kept reading labels quietly as Grillby watched him. It wasn't that Grillby didn't get it. There was a lot of stuff he didn't tell Sans. But sometimes... He just wished he knew.

"hah! look at this one!" Sans held up a plastic bag with "Junk Food" written on it in sharpie. It was full of assorted candies and chips and fries...

"Wait. Are those from the bar?" asked Grillby, snatching the bag from Sans's hand. He inspected the contents. "They are. Look, there's even a couple ketchup packets in here."

Sans thought for a moment, then pointed excitedly at the bag. "oh yeah, that must be bratty and catty's thing. they asked me for a whole bunch of ketchup packets," said Sans, an amused grin on his face.

"Those two girls?"

"yeah!"

"One day they came in and ordered twenty things of fries," Grillby mumbled. Thinking back to when it was, he did the math on his free hand.

"that must have been what these are!" said Sans.

"That was two weeks ago," said Grillby. Grillby handed the bag back to Sans, who grimaced at it.

"well. i hate to say it, but no junk food for us."

"We'll just have to eat licorice then," said Grillby. Sans nodded solemnly.

"i'll just stick to ketchup without fries."

"That's gross."

"guess who enabled me," teased Sans.

Grillby dragged his hands along his face. "Don't remind me. I should've just told you I didn't have any."

Sans laughed. He looked down and inspected their haul. It wasn't much, but he couldn't fit much in the top case anyway. "i think we're out of room."

"Really?" said Grillby deadpan. "Maybe we should have brought the car."

"i'm glad you find it humerus now," said Sans.

"Yes it is oh so very humorous," said Grillby. "Wait." He glared. "Okay I'm going to let it slide. Do you think there's room for sugar? I'm out."

"yeah, we can probably fit that in," said Sans, eyeballing the shopping basket.

"Okay I'm going to go grab some then. See ya." Grillby impulsively swooped down to give Sans a kiss on the cheek before running off. Stupid idiot. Transported himself via pair of wheels and wouldn’t tell Grillby about what he worried about but boy was he cute.

*****

Grillby walked through the automatic door, the sugar bag under his arm. He spotted Sans quickly. He was leaning against a concrete barrier and taking a power nap, the plastic grocery bag dangling from his hand by a few fingers.

"We were going to split it!" he said. Sans's eyes snapped open.

"right. oh, we forgot popcorn. i grabbed that too."

"Sans!" said Grillby, reaching his hand into his pocket to grab his wallet. "Come on, how much do I owe you."

Sans shrugged and wobbled his free hand, shuffling to stand up properly. "don't worry about it."

"Sans—"

"my treat. come on. velma," he said, then started off towards the scooter.

Grillby sighed, debating whether it was worth it to argue about it. Sans was stubborn and Grillby was tired. It would just end with Sans lying about how much it had actually cost to get Grillby to stop pestering him. Plus, he was paying for the wine. He could think about it later. For now... Velma. Grillby took his hand out of his pocket and followed along behind Sans.

*****

Again, Grillby hopped off the scooter almost as soon as it had stopped. He unclipped the helmet, his hands shaking and his flame jittering. The gravel crunched under his boots as he paced around frantically, one hand fidgeting with his jacket zipper and the other one rubbing the fabric of the helmet strap.

Strong arms grabbed around his waist. "it's okay," said Sans. "you did good."

Grillby dropped the zipper to rub Sans's head absentmindedly. For a few moments they just stood there, Sans wrapped around Grillby and Grillby's arm around Sans's shoulders, his fingers making small circles on Sans's forehead while his breathing slowed down.

"this is payback for the carnival," said Sans.

"No one actually dies at the carnival, Sans," said Grillby. "But cars kill people all the time."

Sans laughed ruefully. "oh, uh, trust me. if we ever really were in an accident we'd be fine."

Grillby was still too panicked to ask follow up questions.

"let's go! i've never seen your place before!" said Sans. He didn't really want to let go of Grillby, but he got really, really hot when he wasn't paying attention. "and careful, you're going to burn through that sweater."

"What?" said Grillby, slowly coming back to reality. "Oh. Yeah. Right." Almost immediately the heat faded to something bearable.

"good?" asked Sans.

"Yeah. I'm okay." said Grillby. He lifted his arm off Sans and Sans slipped away, unable to hide the bounce in his step. "Why are you so excited?" asked Grillby, amused.

"never seen your place before!" said Sans, his smile stretched wide. "there could be anything in there! a wall with newspaper clippings connected by string, an anime body pillow, a drawer full of pictures of me when i thought i was alone!"

"I'm not a creep," said Grillby, his brows furrowed.

"hey, and it'll be nice when i know that for sure," said Sans with a finger gun.

"You're not...seriously concerned about this?" Grillby laughed.

Sans waved his hands, still smiling. "nah, bad bit.”

"Stick to the puns," said Grillby.

"puns!? me!? that really rattles my bones. helmet?" Sans opened up the top case and traded Grillby his helmet for the sugar. Grillby left to go fumble with his keys while Sans finished up with Velma.

"Come on, grand reveal!" said Grillby.

"comin'," said Sans, walking over briskly (practically a sprint as far as he was concerned), carrying the grocery bag with both hands.

"Ta da!" said Grillby, pushing open the door to reveal... a staircase. Well, that wasn't entirely true. There was also a doormat and a coat rack and another door. The mud room was cramped, with barely enough room for both of them. And then there was a staircase. "Not much until the second floor," said Grillby.

He walked in, followed closely by Sans, who shut the door behind himself. Grillby bent down to unlace his shoes. Sans just forced off his sneakers by stepping on the heels. When Grillby stood back up and turned around there wasn't much room between them. At all. Sans couldn't tell if his sweating was because he was nervous or Grillby was.

"we, uh, just gonna stick down here?" asked Sans, leaning on the wall behind him to keep from falling over. Grillby heated up small spaces really quickly.

"You thought I was letting you upstairs?"

"Uh...yes?" said Sans, raising an eyebrow.

"Sorry, that was a joke, hah..." Grillby said awkwardly. "Shall we?"

"onwards!" said Sans. His head thumped against the wall. Grillby winced and got started up the stairs.

"Sorry, I'm...this is weird. I'm going to open up the windows."

"that's...good idea. i'm just gonna...i'll be up...soon. just gotta stand here...for a few secs."

Grillby laughed. "Oh man, I am a mess, aren't I?"

"no kiddin'," said Sans, waving Grillby goodbye as he disappeared into the apartment. Sans slid down the wall and sat on the ground, taking deep breaths as the air slowly cooled down. There was a 40% chance this was going to kill him. It took a couple minutes for Grillby to pop up again at the top of the stairs. Definitely enough time to tear down a wall of photos and string. Suspicious.

"Are you okay?"

"yeah, yeah, i'm comin'," said Sans, pushing himself back to his feet.

"My plan worked. That gave me enough time to hide my giant collection of skulls."

"everyone has a type, grillby," smiled Sans.

"Just don't look in the closet."

That earned Grillby a wheezy-cackle from Sans.

"yup, i'll just stick to your medicine cabinet, trash, and internet history."

Grillby hummed pleasantly and took Sans's hand as he reached the top of the stairs, also grabbing the grocery bag. 

"thanks," said Sans gratefully.

"No problem. You sure you're okay."

"yeah, i'm fine," said Sans. He looked around the tiny apartment. It wasn't too much, but it was cozy.

The main room had a loveseat facing the TV cabinet, with a ton of blankets and pillows folded on top. The ground was carpeted and fuzzy underneath Sans's bony toes. Right beside the banister for the stairs was a table, with Grillby's computer on it, as well as a few gardening books and spreadsheets full of Grillby's loopy handwriting. Windows let in a lot of natural light. The walls were largely barren, other than a printed calendar for every month of the year that Grillby had push-pined into the wall. Sans's birthday was circled and days that had passed were crossed out.

Sans walked through the room slowly, Grillby still holding onto his hand and following along behind him. They took the hallway entrance into the kitchen, which was the same as the living room; it was clean, but it still felt...homey. Not many monsters had been able to achieve that. A few pictures Frisk had drawn for Grillby were on the fridge, which made Sans smile. The counter and sink were clean. Spices lined the back of the stove and tools hung from hooks on the back splash. There were more windows; the whole apartment was very bright.

Grillby dropped Sans's hand to go and plunk down their haul on the table, which had a few wooden chairs around it. They didn't match. Grillby had probably picked out each one from various thrift stores around town.

"it's nice," said Sans, running his cold fingers along the counter.

"It's nice to finally live somewhere with light," said Grillby, his voice tinged with sadness at all the years spent in the Underground. Sans looked up to see him haloed by the afternoon sun. When you were around one all the time, it was easy to forget how beautiful elementals were. Grillby's flame breathed and flowed as he lifted snacks out of the grocery bag. Living fire.

Sans nodded in agreement.

"So what do you want to watch?"

"what was that...ouran one?" said Sans.

Grillby laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, uh, maybe, something else?"

"why?"

"I don't think you'd like it."

"okay then. what do you want to watch?"

"Secret Life of Walter Mitty?"

Sans smiled. "i'm not sure i can watch that again," said Sans.

"You've only watched it three times!" said Grillby, almost personally offended, turning his head to look at Sans.

Sans gave Grillby a look.

"Right. Right okay." Grillby drummed his fingers on the table.

"have you seen primer?" asked Sans.

"No?"

"we're watching primer!" said Sans, his face betraying an exuberance beyond words.

"What's it about?" asked Grillby.

"if i explain anything it will ruin it for you come on," said Sans, dragging Grillby into the living room by his wrist. "can we hook your computer up to the tv?"

"Yes...?" said Grillby, but Sans was already on his knees, fiddling with cables.

"can you grab your computer?" said Sans.

"I don't have it on my computer—"

"flashdrive!" said Sans, pulling it out of his pocket. A couple ketchup packets spilled out onto the floor.

"You carry it around on a flashdrive?"

"it's a really good movie."

*****

"What?" said Grillby as the credits rolled. He'd cooled down a lot since earlier, so Sans had been able to cuddle up next to him. Grillby had an arm around his shoulders.

"i know!" said Sans, delighted. "you're going to have to re-watch it a few times to start to get it, but it's good, isn't it!"

Grillby nodded to appease Sans. Honestly, halfway through he had given up and closed his eyes, just enjoying Sans's near constant running commentary. "It was sure...something." said Grillby.

"what was your favorite part?" asked Sans, stars in his eyes.

"Oh, I don't know..." started Grillby, panicking. What had even happened? There were two guys, and... science? stuff? A miracle to rival the parting of the waters, Grillby's phone rang. "I better get that!" he said, the relief in his voice masked by how airy his voice always was. Grillby fished the phone out of his pocket and accepted the call without even checking who it was.

"i'm going to make popcorn," signed Sans. Grillby gave him a thumbs up. Sans hopped up from the couch as Grillby turned his attention to the call.

"Hello, this is Grillby," he said.

"GRILLBY!"

Well that was one mystery solved.

"Hello, Papyrus," said Grillby. "Do you need to speak with Sans?"

"NO, CAN YOU JUST LET HIM KNOW I'M SLEEPING OVER AT UNDYNE'S TONIGHT? HE DOESN'T HAVE TO COME HOME TO READ TO ME."

Grillby pursed his lips. "Isn't this the same trick you guys pulled last time?"

"WHAT!?" said Papyrus, clearly trying to hide a lie. "NOOOOO!"

"Alright Papyrus. I trust you. You would never lie to me. You're such a faithful, good person and I can't see you ever trying to lie to me, even if it was just a lie by omission and—"

"OKAY! FINE! IT IS THE SAME TRICK AS LAST TIME!" said Papyrus. "AND FOR THE RECORD IT WAS FRISK'S IDEA! BOTH TIMES!"

Grillby chuckled. "Thank you Papyrus. I'll let him know."

"ALRIGHT..." said Papyrus. "HAVE FUN! NYEH!"

"We will. Alright. Bye." Grillby ended the call, still giggling quietly. He could hear popping in the kitchen.

"what was it?" shouted Sans.

"You're brother's staying at Undyne's," said Grillby, walking in from the living room.

"oh god, not again," said Sans, pulling at his eyes.

Grillby smirked.

"don't get any ideas!" said Sans.

"I never have any ideas. Wait I lied. I just had the most brilliant idea."

Sans groaned.

"You, me, good wine, pillow fort sleepover."

"done. that is the best idea i've ever heard."

"Do you have work in the morning?"

Sans smiled. "nope."

"Well then it's settled. I'll go grab pillows and sheets from my bedroom."

"which you haven't shown me yet!"

"Oh, yeah, right," said Grillby. "Come on then, I guess," he said awkwardly. Sans grabbed his hand and Grillby led him down the hallway. There was a closet, a bathroom, and his bedroom. He hadn't really found a use for the bathroom yet, other than growing bean sprouts. "Here we are..." Grillby pushed open the bedroom door.

Sans smiled as he looked around. The room was so...Grillby. The bed was neatly made, save for a few sweaters crumpled on it, and everything was picked up off the floor. Big windows, with the curtains fully opened. A desk placed so you could enjoy the view down onto the street while you worked. Instead of a closet, an armoire. Pale blue walls. There were a few framed photos, the nearest one of Grillby with a few regulars in front of the bar in Snowdin. Sans remembered taking it.

"it's clean," said Sans.

"Anything would be clean compared to your room."

"hey! at least i don't have some...some vortex of garbage in my room!"

"No one has that, Sans."

"you'd be surprised," said Sans, with the world-weariness of a five year old who'd been forced to watch Cars 2 every day on the way to school in the back of their parent's minivan because it was their little sister's favorite movie. "you'd be surprised..."

"Um...okay," said Grillby, raising an eyebrow but choosing not to ask questions. Sometimes it was better not to ask questions.

"so what can we steal for the fort?" asked Sans.

"Everything, plus I have another set of sheets in the closet."

Sans left Grillby's side and grabbed the pillows off the bed. They smelled like Grillby, which was hard to describe. Grillby didn't smell like smoke, but...he definitely smelled like something nice. Tea, maybe? Incense? "this is the best idea you've ever had," said Sans.

"Once I thought that I should get into miniature trains."

Sans head turned slowly and he looked at Grillby hard. Grillby looked back innocently. Sans blinked slowly.

"Never mind," said Grillby. "Go throw those on the couch, I'll strip the bed."

It didn't take them long to get a makeshift fort built. It wasn't quite as impressive as the one in Papyrus's room. There were no working lights or foldout tables. But it was pretty cozy.

They used the couch and the chairs from the kitchen to prop up the sheets, held together with safety pins. They put the duvet on the ground. Into the little fort they threw pillows and the cushions from the couch, as well as more blankets Grill had hidden in the closet.

"this is nice," said Sans, lying on his back with his arms behind his head and his eyes closed. Grillby ducked into the fort. He twisted around so he was facing out and lied down beside Sans on his stomach, throwing an arm over Sans to pull him closer. Sans hummed happily.

For a few minutes they just lay there, Grillby calmed down enough that the fort stayed comfortably warm.

"So what do you want to watch next?" asked Grillby. There was no reply from Sans. Grillby shook him a little but he was still silent. Grillby lazily opened his eyes to find Sans's face a breath away from his own, eyes closed peacefully. Grillby blushed, trying hard not to smile at how cute Sans looked when he was sleeping. Nap time it was.

*****

After nap time they watched a few more movies, cuddled in their fort. Grillby brought up wine, but Sans was careful not to drink too much. Frankly, Grillby wouldn’t have let him. They’d done…that. Enough times.

They opened up all the snacks and poured them into bowls, then lined them up within arm's reach to avoid having to do any exercise whatsoever (Sans’s idea). Grillby ended up convincing Sans to watch The Secret Life of Walter Mitty for a fourth time (Grillby’s idea). Sans spent most of the movie watching Grillby. His flame was mesmerizing.

They watched a Halloween special Mettaton had made for Christmas. (“You must always stand out, darling!”) Frisk and Papyrus had guest starred in it. Sans couldn't help but laugh every time Papyrus pretended to be scary, playing the role of the mummy. Frisk was dressed up like a dinosaur and kept falling over because they couldn't move their knees in the costume Mettaton had made for them. It was a silent film, too, which enhanced the entire viewing experience. Sans almost broke a rib laughing.

The sun set and Grillby closed the blinds, but left the windows open. Sans remembered the popcorn in the microwave. For fun, they tried popping the last few kernels on Grillby's good hand and the popcorn went everywhere, including a very horrified eye socket. At one point they had a very deep conversation about the possibility of building a zoo where all the different animals were just rocks painted to look like other things.

Sans poked Grillby's shoulder to get his attention. They were on the second Harry Potter movie. "i have to go, i'll be back in five."

"What?"

"tori's. let me up?"

"Oh, duh," said Grillby, moving his arm off Sans's back. "I'll pause it and wait for you."

"i shouldn't be long, but sure, that'd be awesome," said Sans as he sat up. He leaned down and pressed his teeth against Grillby's forehead. Skeletons made awful kissers, but it was the thought that counted.

"See you," said Grillby as Sans got up and stretched, his spine cracking like a zipper. Grillby shivered.

"bye!" said Sans with a wink. He walked into the hallway and out of Grillby's sight; there was the strange ripping sound, accompanied by the smell of ozone. Even though Grillby knew Sans wouldn't be there, he still got up and checked his room and the bedroom. He should really ask Sans how that worked sometime.

*****

Sans popped up in front of Tori's door. He slipped the key out of his pocket and let himself in. It was one in the morning. Tori and Frisk would probably be asleep. He peeked into the hallway; there was no light coming from under either of their doors.

He did his usual rounds. He made sure the windows were closed (they were), the fireplace was out (it was) and he locked the front door. Then he went into the kitchen, and by the light of the streetlamps coming through the window he wrote the notes.

There was a quiet knock on the frame of the kitchen archway. He looked up suddenly to find Frisk standing barefoot in their pajamas. They opened their arms and walked over. Sans tried to shake the feeling he'd seen this before.

"hey kid," he said, wrapping them up in a hug. Frisk squeezed him tightly. They pulled away and looked up at him with teary eyes.

"I'm sorry," they signed.

"hey, hey," said Sans, his hands on their shoulders. "what's wrong?"

Frisk folded their arms and shook their head, pinching their eyes closed. A few tears rolled down their cheeks.

"okay, you don't want to talk, that's okay," he said, pulling them close again. He rocked back and forth, holding Frisk against his chest. "it's okay kid, it's okay."

Frisk took a shaky breath and nodded. For a few minutes Sans rocked them against his chest quietly, muffling their tears in his shirt. Bless Tori, but she would ask questions and Frisk wasn't up for it. He didn't want to wake her up.

"how about some tea?" offered Sans. Frisk nodded gratefully, wiping tears off their cheeks with the heels of their palms. "i just have to text grillby and let him know i'll be a little longer."

"I'm okay, you don't have to stay," signed Frisk, shifting their weight from one foot to the other.

Sans waved his hand. "don't be ridiculous." He pulled out his phone and touch pen and brought Grillby up to speed. Grillby replied that it was fine; he was getting ready for bed anyway. "the regular?"

Frisk nodded. "With honey?" they signed.

"whatever you want." Sans smiled sadly.

At the end of the day...there was a lot about Frisk they didn't know. Sans felt guilty that he couldn’t do more for them. He wished he could just fix whatever was going on. This wasn’t the first time Frisk had had a breakdown without any apparent cause. The first month after the barrier came down they’d cried almost every day, and when they weren’t crying they’d been staring off at nothing.

It was another half hour of hugs and warm drinks before Frisk's shaky breaths stopped. Sans brought his chair over to Frisk's side of the table so they could lean their head on his shoulder. Sans tried jokes, but Frisk wasn't laughing so he dropped it and just sat, his fingers warmed by the cup of tea. Tori didn't hear them.

Eventually, Frisk yawned and Sans carried them off to bed. He leaned against the door as he closed it behind him. He should probably let Tori know. Later, though. She needed to sleep and Frisk wasn't in need of immediate help. He turned off the light in the kitchen, finding himself yawning as he double checked that the door was locked. He closed his eyes, and when he reopened them he was in Grillby's kitchen.

Grillby, who had been setting up the coffee machine for the next day, spooked, his hand rising to his chest and his flame snapping.

"sorry," yawned Sans, leaning against the fridge. "i'd watch more, but i think it's bedtime."

"You scared me," said Grillby, his flame returning to its normal size.

"sorry about that too," smiled Sans. Grillby narrowed his eyes, but couldn't hide his smirk. Sans watched Grillby fondly.

"How's Frisk?" Grillby asked, turning back to the coffee machine.

"y'know. they still won't talk."

"They don't have to. As long as they're okay." Grillby measured out enough for two cups.

"still," sighed Sans. Memories of nightmares over the years flashed by. "something's wrong..."

"There's nothing you can do to make them talk if they don't want to, Sans. The best you can do for them is listen to what they do say."

"they said sorry," he said.

"What?" asked Grillby, turning to look at Sans.

"i was just standing in the kitchen and they came in and said sorry." Sans's eyes were distant and sad. "something's not right." Sans shook his head. "i don't know. i don't know."

Grillby frowned, pushing the coffee machine under the cupboards. He leaned his back against the counter, crossing his arms.

For a few moments they stood there, Grillby watching Sans and Sans watching...nothing. The dots in his eyes were faded and unfocused. Grillby tilted his head in concern. He didn't know what to say. There was nothing he could say.

"Do you have pajamas?" asked Grillby. Sans's eyes brightened as he snapped to attention.

"crap, no," he said, straightening up. "i'll run home—"

"You can borrow something?" offered Grillby. Sans took a few moments to take in his words, then nodded.

"yeah, that'd be good," said Sans, his smile returning. "i'll just steal from you!"

"Perfect!" said Grillby with a laugh. "Here, come on." Grillby walked past Sans into the hallway. He could hear Sans's feet click against the kitchen tiles as he followed. Grillby walked into his room and opened up the armoire. It was in a bit of a disarray from when he'd shoved through it looking for his milky off-white, literally flawless and perfect in every way turtleneck that morning.

"gonna go out on a limb here and say you don't have anything my size," said Sans, watching from behind him. Grillby snorted.

"Safe bet," he said, tossing a hoodie over his shoulder. Sans caught it and held it up to himself. Way too big. Perfect!

By the time Grillby turned back around it was all Sans was wearing. Which might have been problematic, however it went down to his knees.

"Wow. You're short."

"fuck you!"

"Here. They're shorts on me, but..." Grillby stifled a laugh as Sans put them on and tightened the drawstring waist. "Wow, okay. Do we need to roll them up?"

"they fit me fine! as... capris..." Sans touched his face. "oh man. really should have drank more milk. couda been like pap."

"Oh but Sans you're so adorable," said Grillby, reaching out to pat his hand.

Sans made...a sound. That much Grillby was sure of. How he made the sound, Grillby would wonder to his dying day. Grillby slowly pulled back his hand, fearing it may otherwise be devoured by whatever unholy hell spawn were living in Sans's ribcage.

"Um, okay...I assume we're sleeping in the fort."

"yup!" said Sans. Sans seemed to think for a few seconds before a mischievous grin came over his face. He lifted up his arms. "carry me i'm lazy."

Grillby snorted. "You can walk."

"no, grillby," said Sans dramatically, closing his eyes and holding a hand daintily to his forehead. "i shan't!"

"Sans..." Grillby groaned.

Sans opened one eye lazily. Grillby met his daring gaze. He threw up his hands in defeat.

"The things I do for you," said Grillby, bending down to grab Sans around his stomach. Sans laughed as Grillby slung him up onto his shoulder.

"i was thinking more bridal, but this'll do," said Sans, letting his arms dangle.

"Beggars can't be choosers!"

"fair, fair," said Sans as Grillby carried him out to the fort. He giggled, enjoying the rhythm of Grillby's walk.

"You're pretty light actually."

"grillby i'm only half of skin and bones. there's literally a saying. and i’m half of it"

"Cut the sass unless you want to walk."

"someone's strict!"

"Down it is. Actually...we're here anyway. I have no idea how to put you down," said Grillby, standing in front of the fort.

"to be honest i didn't think i would get this far," said Sans.

"What if I just drop you?" suggested Grillby. One hand held Sans and the other touched his chin.

"you can't just drop me!"

"Okay that's the plan. The floor's carpet you'll be fine," said Grillby with a determined nod.  
"grillby!" said Sans, hitting his leg.

"Payback for Velma!"

"come on—"

Grillby let go and Sans shrieked, catching his soul before he hit the ground face first. Sans flipped himself in midair then let himself down slowly onto his feet.

"rude!"

"Woah." Grillby's eyes were wide.

"huh?"

"I've never seen you do the whole...thing," he said, adjusting his glasses.

Sans suddenly realized that Grillby never had seen him do that. He shrugged nervously. Shit. Shit. "yeah, it isn't really good for much day to day. can't really cook with it."

"What can you do?" asked Grillby curiously. "There's...that, and the shortcuts?"

"uh, yeah," said Sans warily. He wasn't sure he liked where this conversation was going.

Grillby suddenly realized something. His eyes lit up and his fire flickered faster. "Can you carry me!?"

"come on grillby, does it look like i spend a lot of time in the gym..." Secretly he was relieved. It was the most benign question Grillby could have asked.

"First of all you're always wearing gym shorts, secondly not like that—can you do it with magic?"

Sans considered saying no, but Grillby's face was so excited...how could he? "uh, yeah, i guess," he said with a tired smile. Sans looked up. The ceiling was pretty low. He couldn't lift up Grillby much without lighting it on fire. "okay. fall back."

"What?"

"i'll catch you," said Sans.

Grillby bit his lip nervously. "Okay but you have to actually catch me."

"i can do it."

"This isn't payback for me dropping you, is it?"

Sans laughed. "no, no i'm serious. i'll catch you."

Grillby looked nervous. "Ready?"

"anytime," said Sans, holding out his left hand.

Grillby gave a thumbs up. He took a deep breath and fell back, his eyes closing and his face scrunching up in fear. Suddenly there was a tug on his chest. His eyes shot open. He could see the living room window upside-down. Grillby laughed his beautiful, crackling laugh.

"Ohh! This is weird!" he said. "Hey I'm going to cross my legs, can you flip me up so I'm sitting."

"sure," said Sans. Grillby could hear the smile in his voice.

As Sans turned him (it was a really, really weird feeling) while Grillby folded his legs. Sans was standing a couple meters away, his hand reaching out to hold onto Grillby's soul. It was all tingly and strange. Like being touched everywhere and nowhere. Grillby felt like he was being held by a magnet, or maybe like he was falling towards soul? It was hard to compute. But it felt secure and safe and…pretty nice, actually. Like really well fitting armor. They caught each other’s eyes.

"This is really, really weird."

Sans laughed. He curled his fingers to pull Grillby closer. They were at about the same height, Grillby just slightly higher than Sans. For a few seconds they watched each other. Sans, very deliberately, dropped his eyes to Grillby’s lips.

Grillby reached out and kissed him properly. They'd done it a couple times before, but this time was particularly nice. Grillby hands cupped Sans's face and he did his level best to not set him on fire. He tried to pull himself closer but found that he couldn't. Sans did it for him anyway.

It was fun, but they kept it short and sweet. Largely because Grillby’s sweater was about to catch on fire and Sans was seconds from passing out.

"i'm gonna put you down now," said Sans the first chance Grillby gave him, wobbling a little.

"Okay," said Grillby, his eyes still closed. He snapped them open. "Wait. Is this what you meant when you said we'd be fine if we were in an accident?"

Sans shrugged, his breathing heavy. "pretty much, yeah. it's hard to hit the pavement when you're hovering over it."

Grillby's eyes widened. Sans let go slowly and Grillby dropped his legs. The strange feeling of his soul being held faded away. Grillby missed it. "I would have been way less afraid if you had just told me," he said.

Sans rubbed the back of his skull. "yeah...sorry about that. i wasn't sure about showing you. it’s…i dunno. only me and pap can do it."

“But it's so cool!" said Grillby with stars in his eyes.

Sans blushed. "heh. ya think?"

"Of course! Why don't you use it all the time?"

“well, it only works on souls.”

“Oh. So you can’t use it to grab things across the room then.”

“that’s what teleportation is for,” said Sans, smirking smugly.

Grillby nodded his head. “Okay I’ll have more questions later but for now I need to put my PJs on.”

“i’ll warm up the bed,” said Sans as he ducked under the sheets. “fort. whatever.”

Grillby took about 10 minutes, during which Sans mulled over how surreal the previous few had been. Surreal not because of what had happened, but how casual it had been. He’d just gone ahead and lifted up Grillby before kissing him. Kissing Grillby. On the mouth. Sure, once they’d done it on a dare back in Snowdin, but Sans had been drunk and a whole bar had been chanting at them to do it. But now they were doing it in private. For fun. And hoo boy, Grillby was a very, very good kisser. He found a way to do it even though all Sans gave him to work with were some teeth and permission.

“Why are you blushing?”

Sans bolted upright. The lights were off, but that didn’t mean it was too dark. “i didn’t know you were there.”

“Weirdo,” said Grillby. He crawled into the fort and sat crisscross in front of Sans.

“hi,” said Sans lamely. “nice pjs.”

Grillby looked down at himself self consciously. His dark blue shirt and pants were ratty and worn, but they looked comfy. “Oh. Yeah. I should probably get new ones, but…these are mine.”

“yeah,” said Sans. He and Papyrus were still using the 25 year old TV Sans had fixed up from the trash heap when they’d first moved to Snowdin. “i get what you mean.”

Grillby nodded sympathetically. It was hard to let go of old things from the Underground when everything had been special. Cutlery, jackets, even long broken pens. Everything had a story. Who found it, who fixed it, who used it before you. Everything wad recycled. Striped shirts were worn by three or four different monsters before they were finally relegated to a keepsakes box. Sinks were cobbled together out of three broken wholes. Computers were assembled after years of collecting and planning and researching. Everything meant something. 

And then, the barrier had been broken and most monsters had flooded into Ebott with excitement and wonder. And everything was new and special; but not the same kind of special. Not the “my dad wore this scarf” kind of special. So everyone kept something. At least one thing. For Grillby: the stupid jukebox Sans should really properly fix some time, and the PJs freckled with burn marks from a younger, less controlled Grillby.

“Okay, bedtime.”

“lights out!” said Sans with a smile.

“Is this the part where you take out a knife and stab me to death?” he joked.

“blasted! you’ve guess my plot!” snorted Sans.

Grillby lay down on his back, his toes just able to fit into the fort if he kept his head close to the couch. Sans lay down beside him but Grillby was in the mood for cuddles. He reached an arm around behind Sans’s head and grabbed his shoulder. He rolled Sans towards him and he rolled too so that they were facing each other. He looked down at Sans, who was staring up at him and not even trying to hide his blush. Grillby reached behind himself and grabbed a blanket. He shook it to unfold it then tossed it over him and Sans, who had grabbed the front fabric of his shirt. He had an ear against Grillby's chest.

“What are you doing?” asked Grillby. 

“your breathing sounds like fire,” said Sans, his eyes closed and his voice mesmerized.

Grillby hummed, which made Sans smile.

It didn’t take long for Sans to fall asleep (in fact Grillby might describe how quickly he was able to do it as “prodigious”) but Grillby stayed up awhile, keeping Sans close with a hand on his spine.

Shit, thought Grillby. I’m falling in love with this asshole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay okay okay so hear me out
> 
> Hear me out
> 
> Sans = skeleton = corpse
> 
> Grillby = fire
> 
> Ship name: Cremation!?
> 
> We've missed a golden opportunity here guys
> 
> All in favour of replacing sansby and bonefire with Cremation say I
> 
> Comment = I save one person from Ted Cruz the zodiac killer

**Author's Note:**

> If you've got something you want to see get in touch, I love writing but I have trouble generating ideas on my own. My tumblr is veryhappybirb.tumblr.com


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